Burning an Ice Princes Frozen Heart
by vitaliusdeos
Summary: Aria&Aaron lose their father at the age of six. Seven years later they both start school to find out about the dark secrets of the village. Will Aria defeat feared firesome, or will someone stand in her way?
1. Chapter 1

Bahahaha second story but this time a rune factory, I will work on the other but I wanted to start on this one as well. Hit me with all the constructive criticism you want! I wish to improve, also no flaming, I have a fire extinguisher and I'm not afraid to use it!

Now enjoy

* * *

_Thump_ I heard something hit the ground. I found Aaron stir in his sleep as he woke up from the noise.

"Aria what was that?" he asked me. I shrugged my shoulders, gave a be quiet sign to Aaron and crept as lightly as I could down the stairs.

"Aria is that you?" I sighed as I finished the steps finding my dad at the table, holding some book.

"Dad is something wrong?" I asked him, he looked at me and then the book.

"I'm sorry honey, but something is calling me…" I couldn't understand what he was meaning. He handed me the book saying that it would help me at some point and opened the door to a thunder storm outside.

I've always loved the sound of thunder, but before I could refocus myself dad left, I ran outside but all I found was the bag he dropped at the doorway.

It had a letter in it, _"Tell your mom I promise I will be back, but for how long I do not know." _

Aaron came up beside me with tears in his eyes, "Where did dad go." I shook my head, just holding onto the piece of paper.

* * *

7 years later

* * *

"Aria were going to be late for school!" I felt pounding on my shoulder as Aaron shuffled my half awake body back and forth.

"Aaron if out know what's good for you then stop right now!" I was usually grouchy in the mornings, and disliked being woken up.

Since I was up till 2 in the morning trying to figure out the words in the book that my dad had given me 7 years ago I had a problem waking up at eight in the morning, but since it's my first day of school I guess I need to make a good impression.

"Aria it's time to get out of bed." Even though my mom was the daughter of the richest family in the village she can yank the covers off of my body, like it was taken from a submissive dog.

I groggily rolled onto the floor and crawled around gathering my things. Yes my face was on the ground the whole time.

Once I did finally stopped myself from passing out just from standing up, I gathered my dads stuff into my bag.

I call my loverly bag, Super Size bag because it literally fits anything, and I made a special trip to fit my drawing book inside.

"Aria we're going to be late, hurry up!" I stumbled down the stairs before heading outside saying a quick goodbye, and slammed the door shut.

"Aria wait!" My twin brother whined after me.

"You say we're going to be late and then you want me to slow down? Make up your mind!" even though I said that I slowed down allowing him to catch up, until I bumped into something sending me and them crashing to the ground.

"Watch out clumsy human. Next time use your eyes to keep a look out in front of you!" It was Orland.

"Sorry my detection of elves is sub zero you might have to let off 'human' wave lengths for me to function." I said in a sarcastic tone.

He just rolled his eyes, picked up his stuff, and carried on to what ever business he had.

"People like that really annoy me…." I muttered as Aaron and I heard the five minute bell.

"We're going to be late!" he said as he started sprinting off towards the school. I followed close behind running into the door with a major impact probably breaking something in the process but I still got the classroom in one piece.

Inside I could find the other including Leann, Aaron also went somewhere but I haven't seen Leann in a week.

"Hello Leann!" She jumped not noticing my entrance despite how loud it was.

She smiled "Hello Aria, I hope that we both enjoy school, and I hope to work hard."

"Alright class is starting everyone take your seats. Aria sit next to Orland, and Aaron go over to the desk close to Roy. Aaron smiled about being placed next to Roy, but I kept a smile even though I was placed next to a jerk. I set my heavy bag down and opened one of my two note books.

Before the lesson started Orland snobbishly mentioned that he'll put up with me as long as I leave him alone… fine by me I said… after the first period of lessons came Leann came over and motioned me to eat with her

"sure." Was all I said to leave bossy to his books, note to self, find a good nickname for him.

As we sat down I just had fruit sandwich, you could call my taste in foods a little weird, but fruit and bread mix well.

"Hey Aria…" I turned to her

"hm?"

"You don't like Orland do you?"

I gulped down a large bite, "I don't hate him but he just acts a little too 'I'm too good for you' most of the time it kind of bugs me…"

Leann giggled, "He does have a bit of an ego doesn't he."

I turned my head to her, "An ego bigger then an empire... Why the sudden question on pointy?"

she shook her head "hmmm, no reason, it just looked kind of like you were shooting daggers."

I laughed, "Don't worry, I'm just worried about Aaron because he doesn't have a back bone, I mean he's a complete uke…"

Leann tilted her head "uke?"

"Never mind" I sweat dropped

* * *

to be continued


	2. Ukes and pointyness abound!

Yeah yeah I know it's been FOREVER since I last posted but now you can enjoy some randomness!

Story

* * *

I continued to eat my lunch, leaving Leann confused over the whole uke situation, "if you really want to know" an evil glow fell into my eyes, "An uke is a person submissive to the other, they tend to cry and act like a dog… if it's bad enough, also they have no back bone."

Leann sweat dropped, "I guess I'm kinda like that…"

I choked on my food "sometimes but…. Not really…"

The bell rang signaling 5 minutes to class be late and your dead meat. I gobbled the rest of my bread and ran back to class, pointy was still there at his seat, I stalked back to my chair and took out my drawing book.

"Ahh, nothing like drawing,"

Pointy scoffed, "work is more important then art!"

"Not when you need to learn how to make the absolute basic stuff, unlike MEN I can draw and write at the same time, all we're doing is just writing down recipes anyway!" I growled.

Before school started, I got barrettes first lesson out of the way, so no pressure what so ever. I also finished work early so that I could draw and be an idiot. As class went on I started doodling random pictures, some of animals, and then others with people.

"Now I want you to go home and work on some of the recipes, class is finished." Barrett concluded,

I got up and walked over to Aaron, "Oi wake up!" I started shaking his shoulder.

"mmmhmmm?" he muttered "what are you doing in my room…?"

I patted him on the shoulder, "we're in class fool, you fell asleep,"

He looked at me flabbergasted "WH-What why didn't you wake me?!" he yelled,

"I was to busy 'working' on my own work to notice."

I heard a small tch from pointy.

"If you mean work then drawing is an excellent way to describe slacking off." he said in a more sarcastic tone then could possibly be shown, "humans are always so slow at everything, and tend to slow down classes too."

Aaron started to blush, I came up to Orlands face and do you know what I did, I grabbed his ears and yanked them.

"you know what would be good! Leaving me to pester my brother! You have no rights to boss him around! POINTY!!"

He didn't look at me, "and what makes you come to the conclusion to decide that?" He muttered trying to hide the fact that he was probably wincing now.

"because he's my own wimpish brother to boss about and completely humiliate in front of many, and it won't bother him, also who are you to bring humans down so much, I don't see why humans and elves are so different!"

I let go of his ears and grabbed my brothers arm, "if you dare mess with my little brother again I swear I will cut an inch off of those pointy ears" I hissed, before turning around and walking out.

"Sis you probably shouldn't have been so mean to him, do you remember what mom said, 'treat others to how you would want to be treated'" he tried to explain with one arm as I was yanking him away with the other.

"Aaron I know that, but I don't like how he thinks he's the best thing in the world…" I sighed, "C'mon we need to get to Trieste forest, after all we have to find look for clues with dad." Aaron stopped in his tracks.

"But we don't have weapons,"

I mentally slapped myself, "yeah but you know how were not aloud to sell, hmm…" I pondered for a minute, while Aaron did the same.

"Tanya would never allow us to buy a weapon, and pointy's father would stop her even if she did…" suddenly an epiphany came into my head. "Apple!"

"Apple what will that do?" I ignored his question and walked into the forest (of course with him following)

we ran over to the apple tree and grabbed one of the apples from the lowest branch. "You know if we give Tanya an apple she might let us use two of her swords, and I know with dad's money we can afford it." I smiled,

"You're seriously crazy" Aaron blinked.

"I know I wouldn't be an artist if I wasn't!" I ran past all of the monsters again, and walked into Tanya's, Jake wasn't there which might make this easier.

"Hey there you two how was school?" Tanya was working on a sword when we came in, I smiled.

"Fair, lessons are annoying cause all we do is write, but at least you learn something," I sighed "umm Tanya do you think that you could allow us to buy two swords?"

She stopped working, "why, you shouldn't really be going into the caves… but it would be good to see your little brother grow up."

I giggled "yeah that would be good. PLEASE can you let us have one?" I gave my puppy dog eyes.

She sighed, "Alright but I only have a beaten up sword and a spear,"

I grinned, "oh that will be okay, Aaron only needs the spear, I'll take the sword."

"They wont come for free, 3,000 gold for the two"

I smiled and handed her the money and apple, "we thought you might want an apple, and thanks! We owe you one!"

As we walked out of the door aaron made sure that tanya couldn't hear what he was about to say, "That was waaaayy to easy... and how come you had to pay?"

* * *

TBC


	3. Woolies Phobia

Hullo! How've ya all been, I've had a flu for 3 weeks now, and working on work has been hell so I've not been able to update for a while lol… dun own rune factory 2

* * *

I sighed, "It's a factor of life Aaron, one too difficult for you to understand."

We ran back to Trieste forest, "Now remember Aaron if any monsters are too tough for you come back to this checkpoint!"

He rolled his eyes and walked on, "Shouldn't you been the one worried." He remarked. As soon as a Reeno appeared he was there right behind me, I sighed and ran over and sent it back, with a little bruising from the attacks it made.

"That Reeno was Scarrrrryy~" He shivered.

"Come on my cowerdish brother we must find our father." I grabbed his hand, "But before we do i need to see if you can even destroy this portal."

"Why do I have to?" He whined.

"Because you're afraid of Reenos that's why." Watching him wince I continued. "Now shut up and rid of that thing before another Reeno appears." I growled. grabbing his spear, he sliced the crystal that opened the portal; I patted him on the shoulder and walked on. "What no congratulations?" He asked...... "Hoy Aria!"

I laughed and continued on. We braced ourselves against some of the orcs and bugs. Aaron also started to get the hang of a spear and gained enough courage to attack some of the orcs and sent them back to the forest. throughout the day however, he continued to hide occasionally and let me take the hits.

"HYYAH! That's what… the 25th?" I asked sweating.

"Nah more then that, probably 50 sum sum~" He tried counting with his fingers. I took my sword and got rid of the rest of the portals, "and it's that time as well?" He smiled an evil/perverted grin, which indicated bath time.

"Alright let's go." I motioned towards the exit. "We'll travel farther in tomorrow" He nodded and we walked back.

"So what do you think is in here? I mean we're looking for dad but what do you think made us go so much as to convince Tanya to let us own a sword and spear, as well as fight orcs that probably mean no harm." He pondered.

"Aaron stop worrying about it, the more you worry the sicker you get, at least that's what I heard from mom" I stated like the wise ass I was, but I stopped being a wise ass when a wooly showed up, "wahahaha WOOLY~" I screamed and hid behind Aaron,

"Ohh so who's the wimp now?" he smirked, I glared at him.

"You know what happened in the past!"

He laughed and stabbed it's arm which sent it back to the forest of beginnings, "Aria grow up, I wasn't sure how to beat monsters this morning, but a fear of woolies is just ridiculous!"

glowering I growled, "Don't make fun of me." It was true though…. I twitched just remembering. Ignoring his snickers I walked out of the forest and down the steps. Aaron, who was never far behind me followed a step behind and as we passed the inn I pulled a wince, thinking about Orland. Aaron looked at the inn and then me, "Aah now I see why you dislike it soo much!" He said as if he made a revolution.

I raised an eyebrow "Dislike what?"

"Orland" he said tersely, "You dislike him because you act so much like him… But probably not because you have the opposite problem to him right~"

I shut out his monologue, I really didn't care about his 'well deep down your shy and incompetent with yourself, and since you don't have a father figure you hate father like ones and act like a tought man yourself' which I could completely say that I was defiantly not incompetent with myself.

"DENIAL is not a river in Egypt aria!" He whispered loudly in my ear,

"I am not!" I growled. I hated how he could practically see through my poker face…

"Denial, denial, dEEEEENIAALL! Ooh I smell so much denial it hurts!" He sang.

"......Right!" I said coldly as I walked into the bathhouse.

"Aria! Aaron how are you two!" We were greeted by Cammy who acted like her usual happy cheerful self.

"hulloCammy, can we take a bath?" she grinned possibly the widest grins I've ever seen,

"Sure for 10G each!" she chirped, I handed her 20G from my pocket and walked over to the girls side of the bath. I undressed and took a shower. Unfortunately I registed right away that that the shower was cold so I jerked back, slipped onto the hot springr, and landed head first into it, my head didn't hit anything thankfully, but I felt like I was in fire. Inhaling it wasn't fun either, when I tried getting to the surface. Two hands picked me up and got my head out of water,

"Aria you need to be more careful, you could've drowned." My mother scorned,

"Roseland, she just slipped she'll be fine, won't you hun!" Tanya winked at me,

I nodded in agreement, "Yeah I'll be fine mom." I reassured, but it didn't seem to convince her,because she noticed the bruises on my body.

"Oh honey you have bruises all over you, that slip must've been nastier that I thought," Her voice contained a lot of worry as she examined my bruises.

"Eeeheeeheee." I looked around me, "What was that?" I asked,

Tanya glared and grabbed the box with drinks on it, and threw the remainder at the head around the corner, "LEROY GILLIGAN BLACKSMITH WHAT IN ALL THE NAME THAT IS SHARP ARE YOU DOING!" Tanya got out of the water and power walked over to pick up Roy,

"I was just doing research." He pleaded,

"Research my Assyou were peeping, naughty boy! Get dressed and go to your ROOM!" She boomed. Man I was glad my mother never got that scary, oh wait, that time of the month she was probably scarier then Tanya, so never mind. She came back muttering something about how he needed to grow some manners, or something like that. After an hour, my mom and I got out of the bath, which was probably when Tanya was ready to swing her sword around like a madwoman, Aaron was also out and waiting,

"Why are you out so early?" I asked,

"Orland" he whispered, I didn't usually do this but I couldn't resist, I poked my head around the boy's baths, and noted my presence.

"Hullo Orphas! How are ya doin in the baths today!" I made my kinda nerdy/creepy voice.

He jerked upright from his relaxing pose, and wait did I see that right? He blushed? "What are you doing?!" I grinned with my two front teeth showing,

"Oh don't you know when a little girl, such as myself looks in the men's bath it means good luck!"

He narrowed his eyes, "by whose standards?"

I grinned evilly, "Mine!" I slipped my head back and walked away with my mother and brother.

"Okay that's gonna be in his head for a while Aria!" Aaron laughed, No it was gonna be in mine no doubt, after all despite the fact he was a narcissist, he does have memorable embarrassing moments. We got home and I walked over to my room and collapsed onto my bed. Tonight was going to be restless….

* * *

TBC

toryAH way to break it to her, her, ince she had a d*** she was technically not a woman)


	4. Bloody Hands

Okays chapter 4 I don't own rune factory and never will! No flames as well

* * *

_I felt my limbs burn, "ARIA RUN!" Someone screamed, _

_I didn't know who but a shadowed creature was billowing out smoke witch made me gag a couple of times. _

_Aaron was underneath one of it's legs, held down and a couple of his bones crunched. "Aaron what happened!?" I ran over crying, _

_"Aria don't get near…. too dangerous…" I tried yanking him out from under the beast but nothing seemed to work. I could smell the stench of blood. "AARON!" _

_Two arms wrapped around me, "It's too late… he's dying..." it's arms held me close to it._

_ "AARON, NO YOU CAN'T DIE ON ME! – SAVE HIM!" My whole body was shaking, _

_"We can't," The fair hands tightened, "I THOUGHT~" _

My eyes shot open, "~ WERE better then…. Uh?" I gasped as I looked at my hands; they were covered in blood.

I looked over to see Leann, "Leann what happened?" I asked.

"You started screaming out Aaron's name, and dug your nails into your hands so hard I thought you were going to break your fingers for a minute." she replied.

My head was spinning, "What time is it?" I asked, concentrating on calming my breathing rate.

"Umm about 11:00, before you go all spazzed let me tell you this" I shut my mouth. "When Aaron tried to wake you up you grabbed him and screamed at him not to leave you, or something like that… he was frightened of what you were screaming, and came to the mansion to ask if I could keep an eye on you."

My eyes were swelled up with tears, "how long have you been here then?" she smiled sweetly,

"About 2 hours, he got me when class started, so now he has to do my homework while I stay here with you," my face tinted red a little bit, "Leann you didn't have to go through so much, also what am I going to do now?" I muttered.

She tilted her head, "Do what? School?"

I nodded, "Don't worry about that, I got Lionel to do yours, because I asked him to, your taking the day off of school basically." I cried again,

"aww aria don't be like those shojo girls." She hugged me and patted my back soothingly,

"I'm not" I sniffed, "My hands hurt… That's why I'm crying," I showed her my hands.

"uh… AUNTIE ROSELAND!"

My mom came up the stairs, "Has she stirred?" she asked,

before Leann could answer I interrupted, "Yeah I have, but my hands" she gasped and grabbed the 1st aid kit,

"It's a good thing your staying home little missy, I don't want you to go anywhere today," she ordered as she cleaned my hands,

"But~"

"No buts! Bruised yesterday, cut your hands today, you're staying home,"

Great now I couldn't go back to the forest… I sighed and sunk back down into the bed, "Leann you know you're really lucky, you don't get into fights, and you're really pretty." I admitted,

"Aria it's not that hard, all I~" Her expression changed, "Pretty? DO I LOOK FREAKEN PRETTY TO YOU!" she grabbed my collar,

"Oh I meant you're ugly, AS UGLY AS AN IGNIS! OR TROLL!"

her face changed again, "Y-you think I'm ugly?" she was about to start crying,

"No, but what was I to do about Lu?" I sweat dropped. Leann suffers from bi polar disease, call her pretty, and she becomes this raving b****, and INCREDIBLY violent, call her ugly, and she becomes this normal person again with a dressing a boy up in girls clothes obsession. It's one of the dark secrets of the De-Sante-Conquille family.

"Sorry about that… no wonder your shirt is all messed up."

I shook my head, "Nah, don't worry about it, trust me my hands feel worse then my collar ever would." I chuckled slightly,

"Bumpkin that's because of you aren't careful with your nails." My mother said in a comforting way, but to me the words seemed more offensive then anything, I just smiled though.

"Yeah I'm not very careful…" I laughed, Leann giggled as well because she didn't really get that I was being serious. I didn't mention anything because I couldn't find a nice way to break it to her.

* * *

TBC


	5. Tattle Tale

Story

* * *

My mom finished bandaging my hands up and told me not to do anything dangerous, of course I had to be stuck in bed with Leann by my side, just to make sure that I wasn't going anywhere.

"Aria…"

I looked up after fiddling with my hands a bit; "hm?"

She looked around the room and whispered, "You're going into the caves aren't you."

I waved my hands and shook my head. "Wh-what would give you that idea?"

She stared at me, "you might be able to get past the others, but I have known you for 11 years, now please tell me, are you and Aaron going into the caves?" She asked me again, I sat there for a minute, with her looking at me, searching for an answer.

I sighed, "I am…. So why did you wanna know?" I said as my eyes became dark,

"I could figure," she replied, "You have been worried about your father that the only conclusion of his (at least by your description) disappearance is either A because he's somewhere in the caves, B he's dead, or C he ran off somewhere." She noted with movement of her arms.

Twitching I asked, "So what does this have to do with you wanting to know?"

She smiled sweetly, "I was just curious… don't worry as well, I won't tell anyone, I was told by Aaron already, I was just confirming from you." She giggled slightly, "But to be frank you should get some rest, I'll ask ray if he can heal your hands so that you can fight sooner." I nodded and laid my head down to rest.

* * *

*Dream*

* * *

_Darkness? Covering me all over…. My body was trembling, and my legs buckled beneath me. What, what was happening?_

_ "ARIA!"_

_ I panicked and scanned around the area, "Dad?" everything went quiet… then I heard an explosion. _

_"ARIA HELP ME!" Aaron was in front of me like before, bleeding, and his bones cracking underneath the shadowed Behemoth's hand. _

_It red eyes were glowering at me. When I tried crawling towards him the same hands stopped me like last time, I turned around, but the person was faceless. _

_"Don't go near it, Aria." He grabbed my hands, and green energy flowed around them, "This should make you feel better…"_

_ I twitched, "My brother is in the middle of dying, and your doing something with my hands?!"_

_ He shrugged, "Why not, your hands are in a serious condition." Did he even know what a condition was, my hands are slightly bleeding, and my brother over there… wait… this looks like a hospital room._

_ "Of course it is, what else did you think it was?" He asked me._

_ I looked around, "But I thought that the place was covered in unruly darkness. _

_He chuckled slightly; "No I just forgot to turn on the light" _

_I twitched again "eh?"

* * *

_

Shaking my head, I slightly opened my eyes. A blurred person… or thing was holding my hand.

"Who?" I barely managed to get the word out.

"I'm sorry I couldn't quite catch that, can you say it again?"

I opened my eyes a little more, "I was asking who?" The blur became more clear.

"Ray?"

He smiled slightly, "You gave us quite a scare, your body started shaking, and we thought you were going into a panic attack. But then when we started taking action, you just suddenly stopped shaking and just flopped back down." He explained.

He made it sound like I was going to die and then it was just a small little problem which sorted itself out…

"Thanks for the input" I muttered.

"I've also finished healing your hands; take more care with your farming." He noted, I looked at Leann who smiled and mouthed 'your welcome' to me. I smiled quickly and then turned back to ray.

"Thank you" I half heartedly smiled. He got up and walked out of the room. I waited a minute before I grinned, "You sly girl, you told him I was injured from farming, how can I repay you?"

Leann shook her head, "It's nothing really, just promise me you'll look after Aaron." I sighed, I was already doing that but I agreed anyway, and made my way down the stairs and out of the house. I ran all the way over to school, and walked in, everyone was packing away their stuff since it was the end of school. I looked around for Aaron, but couldn't spot him anywhere… he must've already headed out for training. I turned around but someone grabbed my sleeve and pulled me over to the next room.

"What are you doing." I growled and I looked behind me.

Orland was standing there arms folded, "Why did you skip class today human?"

I frowned, "What's it to you? I thought it would've been better if I wasn't here," I sarcastically noted.

He frowned, "That doesn't excuse you from skiving off of class,"

I glowered, "What?! I was off sick from farming, isn't that excuse enough Orphas."

He sighed, "Cut the crap, I know you and your brother are going off into the caves."

I took a step back, astonished, and it took me a couple of minutes to regain my composure, "How did you know about that, Aaron and I haven't told anyone."

He rolled his eyes, and sighed again, "Have you forgotten I'm an elf. Not only that, you reek of Orc blood, and apple trees from the Triste forest."

Narrowing my eyes I slightly crackled, "Hmm so if you could smell that on me, how come you haven't told all of the teachers?"

"I wanted to warn you, you can't go into the caves all willy nilly like that, it's not a game aria, you can get killed in there! If you're smart then you wouldn't go there again. Also if I smell orc blood on you again I will tell the teachers."

I was enraged, "Who are you to judge me, of course I know this is not a game, I wouldn't be going in there if I did, you would never understand my reason, just like I would never understand what it's like to be the only half elf kid in this village, so please spare me the threats, no one in this whole village would understand, other then Roy, and even he wouldn't get it. I'm not going to stop going in, I know all of the consequences and I don't care, if I can save my…. You know what never mind, see you later Orphas…"

I backed away from his grasp and ran out the door to Triste forest, Aaron was practicing on orcs, he already started doing flips,

"Fast learner are we?" I congratulated him on beating an orc.

He jumped and turned around, "Aria, I thought you we're supposed to rest today."

An orc crept up behind him, I took out my sword and blocked its attack before I slashed it's stomach and sent it back to forest of beginnings.

"Don't show you're back to an enemy, or else you'll be killed" I quoted Barrett,

"We should go deeper into the forest, me thinks we could probably reach the back of the forest, what say you?"

Aaron looked a little attentive, "I don't think we're that strong yet, Aria, I mean we could but don't you think we could wait till tomorrow or something?"

I grinned sadisticly, "Two beats one right, we should be fine, plus I don't think there's anything back there. Dad said it was just a little river!"

Aaron grimaced but nodded, "I guess your right…"

I smiled and we walked through the forest taking care of orcs, ants, and other things. We reached the back of the forest Pointed in the direction of the opening.

"Look it's just there lets go Aaron!"

He stopped, "Aria I really don't think we should go through there,"

Sighing, I tried to persuade him, "Listen dad SAID there was nothing back here, I just wanna see it for my eyes. Please Aaron?"

Luckily manipulation works on him, and he again followed after a couple minutes of debating. We walked through the grove, I skipped around,

"See nothing here other then an apple tree, I told you."

Aaron looked around, I started to climb the tree to get an apple, but not long after I heard breathing.

"Aaron are you breathing loudly?" there was no answer.

"Aaron?"

"ARIA GET OFF OF IT!" He screamed, I fell off from being startled.

My butt hurt from the impact, but it didn't hurt nearly half as much as a vine impaling me in the stomach. 'cough cough' some blood splattered out of my mouth.

"Aria 12 o'clock!" Aaron shouted, I looked up to see red glowering eyes looking straight at me. I took out my sword and cut off the vine aiming for me. The tree didn't like it and winced from its lost vine. I knew we had to escape, I scanned the area quickly, but there was nothing, the grove had vines covering it, so plan b was the only choice.

"Aaron get you're spear ready, we're gonna have to beat this thing." He looked at me like I had lost my mind, I probably had, but I didn't have time to argue. I jumped on the vines and attacked the bark, as much as I could. Aaron took a different route and attacked from behind.

"Oh yeah leave the vines and… flying apples to me?!" I sliced the apples heading for me.

"It suits your personality, quick to act and take damage!" he laughed while slicing it. After a while, it looked like we were doing something to it. Somehow the tree started turning red, and attacked more frequently. It was harder to dodge the tree's attacks, but I kept on fighting. The vines also acquired spikes, which wasn't very nice feeling. One of them struck me in the back and I winced.

Aaron started running towards me, "Continue fighting him! Don't worry about me, just finish him off."

Aaron stabbed it, I staggered up, and started charging.

"Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!" I ran towards it, jumping on top of the vines, and positioned my sword to attack the eye of the tree. It landed in the center of the eye, and the tree started desynchronizing. I fell down, and face planted,

"Graceful… enjoying eating grass aria?" Laughed wearily

Popping a vein, and I lifted my head up, "Oh yeargen you enjoy making fun of a little girl *sigh* how heartless of you."

We Laughed, it was kinda scary and painful, but what ever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. The vines at the grove cleared.

I looked down at the floor. "Huh? What is this?" I picked up a green tablet with writing on it.

"Aria, Aaron what are you doing back here?" Oh crumplestiltskin, what was Barrette doing here?

We panicked "We were just enjoying the river at the back of the cave." I lied, I also kept my back to him, he walked forward.

Orphas was also deep within the grove, mouthing "I wasn't lying."

I growled, but kept my eye on barrette.

"Aria what are you hiding?" he knelt down in front of me, I looked at the grove Orphas was gone, and sighed.

"We found this…" I handed him the tablet, he took it and examined it,

"What is this, and were did you get it?"

I looked away, "I don't know…"

He sighed, "If you tell me the truth I won't tell your mother or anyone else… why are you going into the caves more then once and where did you get this?"

I hufffed, Barrette was probably more trust worthy then Orland.

"Our father went missing as you know, I think he might have something to do with these caves, I don't know why but I get the feeling he's here, and we were also fighting against the giant tree here, that tablet is from it."

I winced, and gripped my back, barrette saw the blood on my hand, "I guess you're not lying, Jake was talking about the tree back here,"

He brought his hand behind me; "Curus" a cure spell cured the cut in my back. "I will tell Orland not to tell anyone else, Cammy and Roy have also found out I think, they were talking with Aaron about it." So that explains how he went along with Orphas. "That little tattle tale…" I grumbled.

"You knew the rules perfectly well Aria, Orland was just doing the right thing." I grumbled again, we left the forest and parted our separate ways.

* * *

TBC


	6. Insect Jaw

Story (I dun own rune factory 2 also I'm switching to 3rd person)

Story

* * *

Aria and Aaron walked home thinking of the past events, Aria was holding onto the piece of the tablet, keeping it close to her.

Rosalind was in the baths when they got home so Aria quickly headed up stairs to store the tablet into her chest and grabbed her Pj's.

"Where are you going aria?" Aaron was already in his pajamas.

She Smiled sweetly, "Ooh nothing just going to get a bath, I reek of Orc blood apparently so I'm in the mood to wash myself off."

Aaron shook his head, Aria was always a bit of a clean freak, she took showers every day.

"Don't let any of the boys see you my older sista."

"No Aaron don't…" Shaking her head, she walked off and entered the bathhouse.

"Ah aria… how was it to fight the tree? Hard?" Cammy whispered,

"No it was pretty much a walk in the park other then it stabbed me in the back with one of its torturous spikes." Aria sighed.

Cammy laughed, "So have you come to take a bath?"

Aria nodded, and handed her the ten gold. Aria noticed Orland in the bathhouse, and slipped over to the boys area, "Hullo again Orphas" Every time he jumped. This time though, his book fell into the water.

"Its Orland! Now get out you stupid perverted human!" He growled using the already soaked book to cover his manly parts.

Roy was also there on his stomach, "Hey aria, haven't seen you today, ill?"

He winked; Aria smiled and nodded,

"Aria get out of there!" Cammy ordered.

she slipped away and undressed and walked into the Bath area. Tanya was drunk off of her head and telling embarrassing stories about Roy, he kept on screaming not to tell the embarrassing stories. Orland was Groaning from all the noise.

Rosalind and Aria headed home after an hour and she slept again.

The reoccurring nightmare made her toss and turn until she landed on the floor.

She groggily searched for the clock, "5 am…. Giddy aunt I'm barely getting 6 hours of sleep….." She stood up and swaggered over to the chest. She put on a blue version of her outfit and headed out the door. She attended to the crops in her field, Triste forest, the Messhina Valley and Blessia Island. She headed over to class after.

At 9:00 everyone started to emerge through the school doors, Orland gave Aria a stare when he sat next to her but then he looked ahead and paid attention to the teacher. The first half finished, Douglas came through the door with lunches for all of them.

Aaron got a salted pike much to his dismay, Aria got cheese bread which she couldn't eat so they swapped each others food. Orland brought his own food. After lunch Barrett taught weaponry. The ending bell rang, everyone left, Aria however stayed in class she was fixated on her idea for a drawing, Orland was studying like he always did 30 minutes after class ended.

"………" He looked up from his book, "why are you in here? Shouldn't you be fighting monsters and being an idiotic human?"

Aria frowned, "Shut it, I'm not in the mood to fight today." She looked up, "…also I do have a name, its A-R-I-A! Not human."

Orland smiled, "I call everyone human that's human because you are humans."

Aria sighed. "Hopeless…"

His smile disappeared, "what?"

Shaking her head she growled, "Ya know, not all humans are stupid, yes the majority of them are but some are genius so don't diss all of them, okay elf?"

He twitched, "It's Orland… whatever…" He went back to his work.

Aria finished her drawing of a dragon and Headed out. Passing the notice board, she stopped. Looking through the list, there were few requests. One that caught her eye however. "I need something, come see me for details"

She looked down, the name written was Orland.

"Hmm… he needs help? Ugh I shouldn't become all snoody." She shook her head and she ran back to school. Bumping into Orland, she knocked his books out of his hands.

"Don't I get enough of you….." Orland growled, Aria stood herself up and helped him pick his books up, "I looked on the notice board, you said you needed help?"

He looked away hiding a slight tint, "I don't need your help…"

Aria pursed her lips, "That's a lie and a half, you wouldn't put it there if you didn't need help, now tell me."

"I…. never mind, follow me"

Aria handed him back his books and they went inside of the eagle inn.

"Up stairs" he said tersely.

"Ah orland, welcome home, Aria welcome to the inn."

"Hi grandpa, ignore aria."

She ignored his rudeness, "Thank you Egan" She replied as she tried to keep up with Orland's pace.

They breached the door and entered in. He set his books down on the desk and turned around,

"If you feel so pestering, don't tell ANYONE this or else I will tell everyone about you're secret."

Aria stared, "shoot"

"I need you to get an insect jaw… they come from the queen hornet in the Messhina Valley"

Aria tilted her head, "What do you need it for?"

He Pondered, "If you get it for me, I may tell you…."

She nodded, "Alright."

With that aria left to hunt for one. She got down to the last step, when she heard Egan call her, "Ah aria can I talk to you for a moment?" he came out from behind the counter, "I'm sorry about Orland's behavior."

She shook her head and claimed it's not such a big deal.

"He seems to hate all 'humans' so he stops himself from making friends with people. Because of Jakes attitude towards you, Orland seems to take to that. Please help him overcome it…" she looked up, Egan was asking her to help Orland.

Smiling she , "I'll try, but he is stubborn, it might take a while." She laughed before leaving.

Leann was taking a walk, when she noticed Aria leave the inn, "Oh aria, what were you doing in there?"

Aria waved, "Hi Leann, just talking with Egan, anyhow I'm off to the Messhina valley."

Leann smiled, "You might want these," She handed Aria a bag antidotes and anti-paralysis, "Before you ask about them, if you're taking Orland's request, you'll need it."

Aria tilted her head, "What? Leann sometimes you scare me…."

She smiled, "I heard him bickering about it yesterday, I also know you can't afford them right? Cause of the focus on improving the school?"

Aria grimaced, Leann was right; she was trying to get enough money on her own to pay for the extensions on the school.

"I need to repay you…" She sweat dropped.

Leann giggled, "Don't worry about it,"

Aria reached the area where the queen bee's usually takes refuge, and waited for them to appear. 6 pm passed and they showed up. Aria ran towards them and slashed the tails; she knew that their stingers were powerful, and that was a weakness. Each one kept on disappearing, and none of them dropped an insect jaw. The queen hornets shot multiple stingers out, some hitting her. wincing back, she felt the poison seep into her blood. She drank an anti-paralysis, and continued fighting. The poison still spread, but it wasn't enough to stop her just yet, she took one more go at slashing at a queen hornet.

She thought she got it, but it served and injected its full stinger into her stomach,

"….Crap…."

Cursing, she stabbed it through the throat, and scrambled to find an antidote.

"All that and nothing!" Another one shot her in the back, she sliced at its head, and it too disappeared, but left something behind. She turned around to see the insect jaw.

"For crying out loud" muttering she continued, "Orcs drop quality cloth a lot more then these buggers"

Quickly picking it up, She stumbled down the hill, and ran for the exit. Heading down the walkway, she found herself to the Inn and entered.

"Ah Aria, welcome again, but shouldn't you be in bed?" aria scratched the back of her head, "Well there was something I needed to give to Orp- I mean Orland…"

She placed an arm over her stomach to cover up the dent made from the stinger.

"If you don't mind I would like to give it to him tonight."

Jake walked in the room from the kitchen, "Dad, where did you put the spinach?" He noticed Aria was standing there, "Little human? It's a surprise to see you here."

She smiled slightly, "Yeah I just wanted to drop something off."

He nodded with a very straight face, "Be quick, dinner is almost ready…" She could smell some form of fishy herb kind of smell coming from the kitchen,

"I think we're out of spinach Jake." Egan said, as he tried to recall where the spinach was. When a dark aura started to form around Jake.

Aria took a bunch of spinach out of her bag, "I remembered I have this, I picked it about two days ago, so it should still be good." She smiled as she handed it to him. Light thumping could be heard on the upper floor as a very angry Orland came down the stairs.

"What is with all the noise," Noticing aria, he quickly motioned for her to come up, and looked behind him as he climbed back up to the second floor to make sure that she was following. Once they were in his room he sat back down onto his chair, and motioned her to sit down onto the bed.

Fumbling through her bag, she took out the insect jaw and placed it onto the desk, "Found it just like you requested."

He could see the energy loss in her eyes, "I'm rather impressed that you managed to find one so quickly, but at a shady cost…" He motioned his eyes towards the blood on her stomach. Holding his hand out he muttered few words and green light swallowed up the wound. Aria muttered a thank you before sitting back down.

"You promised that you would tell me what you needed it for?" she inquired.

He picked up the insect jaw and examined it, "You will be rather surprised to find out that I am an insect buff. My previous insect jaw was destroyed, and I needed another. Unfortunately I've been too busy to spend my time bashing up hornets."

Aria did an 'ahh I seeeeee' moment. "So that's why you asked." Standing up she continued, "Well I best be off, apparently your din din is almost ready!"

he gave her a quizzical look, but reformed his straight face,

"Wait, before you go."

* * *

TBC


	7. Dina

Sorry this took so long to update….

Story

* * *

Shuffling through one of the drawers in his desk he took out a bag of seeds, "Take this as a thank you."

She held her hand out, as he placed it into her hand.

"Don't worry about it," She noticed a split second smile on his face, but shook her head, claming it was the poisons fault.

"ORLAND! DINNER!" Cecilia's voice rang through the floor,

"You better head home…"

"What's this, are you actually worried about a human?"

He turned away, "No, if you wait any longer, my mom would make me escort you home."

Aria rolled her eyes, "And you would grudgingly agree right?" he ignored her immaturity.

Going down the stairs, Cecilia was holding a spoon, "Herb mackerel tonight, please get the water." She then noticed aria, "Oh aria, I what are you doing here so late?"

Aria tried to think up an excuse, but Cecilia continued before she could speak, "Don't worry, you don't have to answer, would you like some dinner before you head out?" She said smiling while looking at the two of them.

Shaking her head, Aria replied, "My moms probably worried or curious about where I've gone to, so I probably need to head home as soon as possible."

She nodded her head, "Alright I understand, well then Orland."

He froze on the spot. "Could you please escort her home safely, it's very dangerous for a 13 year old to go out alone."

"I have to set the water."

Cecilia took the cups from his hand, "I'll do this, please escort Aria home."

He muttered something in elvish, before heading out the door, motioning for her to follow. "You know you can go fishing, and then just go back in after half an hour?"

He shook his head, "No point, elves can smell the different parts of the village, and yours farm defiantly has an individual smell, if I don't head over there, my mom would tell that I didn't do as I was told."

Aria chuckled slightly, he turned his head around as they started walking, "What's so funny human..."

"Nothing, it's just, if that were true, how come your mom didn't think to ask if I was in the caves?" \

"You usually smell of the caves anyway, mixed with sweat, she probably just came to the conclusion you forgot to water your plants."

Aria popped a vain, "Hey, I don't sweat!"

Smirking, he replied, "You do, especially when you came in the inn, and fought against that tree, which reminds me, your still completely retarded for doing such things."

Aria smiled, "yup!"Orland knocked on the door, once they reached the farm.

Opening the door, Rosalind hugged Aria to death, "Aria! Where have you been!"

Sweat dropping, Aria explained that she went fishing for a needle fish, and brought it back to the inn. She lost track of time and Cecilia commanded him to bring her home.

Thanking him, he left to eat dinner, and Rosalind shut the door,

"Aria, you know your curfew is 8 o'clock, not 9. You are to be home at 7 tomorrow, do I make myself clear."

Aria looked away, "Yes ma'am"

"Good, now get ready for bed."

Laying her head onto her pillow, Aria fell into the same nightmare she had about Aaron getting crushed by an unknown shadowy creature.

Opening her eyes, she saw Aaron about to reach for her hand, "Aria, get up, school!"

She grumbled, prying herself from the bed.

Getting inside of the school, she had a hard time staying awake. Orland smacked her upside on the head to keep her awake.

"Stay awake human, I don't want to get more work for your insolence…."

Glaring, she bit onto her lip to keep herself from sleeping.

At lunch break, Aaron grabbed her arm, and lead her out to the Blessia Island.

"Hey Aria, Look how much I've improved!" He rolled around the goblin, and attacked it from the back. Then he used a rock near by to get an Arial attack on another.

She clapped, "Woah, you're going to have to teach me that little brother!"

He pouted, "Don't call me little! I'm going to be taller then you!"

She smiled, "Yeah, maybe in 6 years from now!"

"More like 4"

"Mom said girls mature faster then boys, and I already have my boobs, so that must be fact!"

He sighed, "Why does our family have girls outweigh the boys? I swear you and mom talk about things that wouldn't even be muttered in the mind."

Smiling sweetly, Aria patted him on the head, "Oh Aaron, it's better to know about all of this, before you get married, it helps you become more mature, and then you don't expect more from the woman."

"Yeah someone with your kind of personality, I would try to dodge the most."

She glared, "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Your just terrifying is all."

They trained for a small amount of time before heading back to class. Aaron walked over to Cammy with a blush on his face, and sat next to her. Aria placed herself back beside Orland.

"I'm guessing from the reeking smell of oranges, it was that island this time?"

Aria sighed, "Do you really have to be a wiseass right now?"

He frowned, "Whatever you human…"

Barrette came in and announced it was time to start class. They studied how to improve water-pots and hammers.

After Aaron placed a letter on Aria's desk and headed out of the door. As she read the note, She smiled, and walked over to Leann.

"Hey Aira, are you busy?" Leann asked.

Shaking her head, she handed Leann the note. "So what did you want?"

Leann had to hold herself back from gooching. "Ah yes, well I need you're help on something…"

Aria shrugged, "I'm all ears."

Standing up, she gracefully grabbed Aria's grubby arm, and lead her out of the school. "I need to find out what's wrong with Dina…."

"What's wrong with her?"

Leann sighed with puzzlement, "No matter what I do I can't seem to get through to her, she keeps on moping around."

Scratching the back of her head, Aria replied, "I thought you said you didn't really know about your counter part?"

"Well yesterday I found out everything about what she did, and so I'm kinda wondering what she's feeling right now…"

Aria patted off some sand and dirt from her pants. "Alright… Lean you are beautiful!"

She smiled, but it suddenly changed to a horrified expression, "BEAUTIFUL! ARIA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

She blocked the oncoming fists, and dragged Dina infested Leann away from school grounds. Once they were on her farm, she removed her hand from Dina's mouth, and shushed her, "Dina, Leann wanted me to talk to you."

Dina stood there, arms folded, with a skeptical look on her face. "Yeah right, like my other half could ever think to talk to me, she hates me for my rudeness!"

Aira sighed, "Then why would she pull me aside out of worry for you?" She didn't respond. "So what is the problem?"

"It's that stupid boy…." She raised an eyebrow; Dina took that as response to continue, "No matter how many times I have tried, he somehow manages to avoid me…."

"Aaron?"

Dina nodded, "If I could dress him up once…. I would feel so much better."

Sweat dropping, she muttered, "I thought Max told you not to do that anymore?"

"Yeah, but I really wanted to dress him up, in a lovely red dress with gold lining, it would look so beautiful on him…"

Rubbing her chin, Aria nodded, "Alright, I'll go find him."

Walking away she made a small whisper. "You're ugly as a pig by the way…"

Dina transformed back into Leann, "Oh come on Aria, you just told me I was pretty!"

Waving and still ears distance away, Aria replied, "I know what Dina wants!"

Sniffing around the forests, she spotted Aaron sitting on a picnic blanket with Cammy. They were smiling, and laughing, until Aaron made some motion like he had to go, and got a kiss on the cheek from Cammy, who giggled at his embarrassment. She ran back to the entrance, pretending that she didn't just see that.

"Aaron" She called, as she spotted him walking along the path, "There you are!"

His blush deepened, "A-Aria! What are you doing here?" He said, failing to act cool and collected.

She tilted her head, "Why do you have a pink hue on your face Aaron, are you sick?"

He shook his head, "No, I'm fine."

She smiled, "That's good to hear, and well anyway I need your help."

He looked worried, "Did Orland do something to you?"

She shook her head, "Nothing like that, I just need your help on something."

He followed her over to the De-Sante Conquille manor. "Ahh Aria, Aaron, how are my sisters adorable little twins doing?"

Both of them smiled, "We're fine max." "Do you know where Leann is?"

Max tried to recall, "Probably in her room, after all, she seemed very happy today."

Right now Aaron was picking up on bad vibes, but he blamed it on nervousness from the kiss Cammy gave him. Heading up to the room, Aria knocked onto the door.

"Come in."

* * *

TBC


	8. The One That Never Dressed Up? Until Now

(sorry I completely forgot about this chapter!)

Enjoy

* * *

Opening the door, aria slipped behind Aaron and grabbed his wrists, "HEY!"

Aaron Flinched, as she pinned his hands to his back. "Leann you're pretty."

Leann suddenly changed into Dina, "Hey, how many…. Never mind you're forgiven!" She walked towards Aaron, and took out a dress.

"No I was trying to be the only one to not get dressed up!" He screamed as he tried to struggle from Aria's grasp.

"Sorry Aaron, but Leann was really bothered about Dina, so this is the only way to help her out."

They both pinned him to the ground, as Leann dressed him up. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Julia stormed upstairs to find out what all of the screaming commotion was about.

Upon breaching the door, Aaron ran out and bumped into her. "Auntie Julia! look what those devilish girls did to me!"

Julia stood there agape from what she found, Aaron's hair was in two bobbles, he had lipstick and eyeliner perfectly aligned along his eyes and lips, and a red frilly dress with gold lining complimented his androgynous figure. "Aria, Leann why did you do this to his poor ego."

Aria pointed to Leann, "We needed to make Dina happy, and she wanted to dress up Aaron, I do have to say he looks rather nice in a dress."

He glowered at her, "Aria that was not funny! I'm suffering ego problems from this!"

She shrugged, "You'll get over it."

Sighing Julia forced Leann and Aria to give Aaron back his clothes, and then sent him into one of the rooms to get changed.

"So Dina, you feel better?"

Dina nodded, and willingly went back to being Leann. "W-what happened….?"

Aria scratched the back of her head, "Dina's happy now."

Smiling, Leann hugged her, "Thank you! Maybe I'll finally be able to talk with her!"

Releasing Leann from her chocking hug, Aria bid her a farewell realizing it was 6:30. Heading home, her mother greeted her out the door. "Aria could you please set the table, dinner is almost ready."

Aria smelt the smell of smells that smell smelly...mushrooms... in teriyaki. "Mom, did you put mushrooms in the teriyaki?"

Rosalind nodded, "Just eat it Aria, mushrooms are good for you!"

She gagged, "No I swear they stare at you with their gills!"

"Then just pluck them out, now get dressed into your pajamas, you have to go to bed soon."

Putting the plates out, she headed up the stairs, placed a T-shirt (preferably her fathers) and shorts underneath, and headed back downstairs. Aaron was sitting there, with a clearly happy, but unhappy expression on his face, and glared at her when she came down.

"Alright dinner!"

All of them ate the Teriyaki, Aria pulled out all of the mushrooms, and handed them to her willing brother.

After dinner, she headed up stairs, and slept another nightmarish night. She woke up to a stomach ache, which was not terrible, but she felt discomfort for the first two hours of the lesson.

After Classes, they both did their daily routine of fighting against monsters, and watering plants.

* * *

TBC


	9. Second boss!

Enjoy

* * *

A few weeks had past, and both of them had been practicing almost non-stop. Aria managed to Learn the moves Aaron had been practicing, and Aaron had gotten more cocky about the caves, where as the nightmares, made aria almost more frightened, and it slowed them down from fighting against the second boss.

"C'mon Aria, today please! We can take them on!"

Aria sighed at her brother's constant pleading, "For the last time Aaron, I don't feel like it's a good idea..."

Pouting, he grabbed her arm, "Aria please! We survived against the tree, how hard could this next one be?"

She sighed, "Fine will you get the stab in the stomach then?"

He flinched. After a week he had already forgotten that she had a giant scar on her stomach. When their mother asked, they just said she fell on the hoe, and got a scar from it.

"Aria I don't think something like that will happen again…"

Aria sighed. "….Fine… but if something happens, it will be your fault!"

His eyes glistened with happiness. "Are you serious? We can go!"

She nodded hesitantly, "Just be careful alright…." She muttered.

He smiled and cheered as they moved through the several rooms of Blessia Island. Finally reaching the abandoned ship, they destroyed the tortoise and orc before heading up the stairs.

Reaching the top, she stopped. "Aaron we should turn around."

He pouted, "Aria there's nothing here." He smiled and looked around, "See there's nothing!"

Something shot out of the water below and stuck to the ground beside Aaron who shrieked like a little girl.

"Wh-What was that?" Screaming, he scampered away from the tentacle.

"Like I said, we should get out of here!" She shouted,

"Ehe… too late…."

Turning around, the opening was filled with several spikes.

Glowering at Aaron, she growled dangerously, "See I told you that we shoulda left while we had the chance!"

He shrugged innocently, and took out his spear. "We don't really have a choice in the matter, now do we?"

Taking out her sword, she braced for an oncoming attack from the giant octopus. It thrusted its spear forward and swung it several times.

Ducking, Aaron struck it with his spear, which caused it to wince back in pain. Aria rolled around it and attacked from the back while aaron took it head on.

"Hey why are you leaving the front to me!" he shouted, stabbing it into the eye.

"Because I took the front last time."

He chuckled nervously. "Oops…"

She raised her head, "Opps? Aaron what did you do?"

The octopus started to turn purple and went onto a rave, picking up crates on the side of the boat.

"Duck!" Ducking, several crates were heaved towards him.

"Aaron, what in all the name that is good and beautiful did you do?"

Before he could answer, she heard a shriek, as she watched him roll out of the way of an exploding crate. She also found one of its eyes bleeding.

"You stabbed it in the eye!"

Dodging another crate he cried, "It was an accident, I meant to hit him in the head!" It finally noticed her behind it, and swung his spear towards her.

Unable to dodge in time, she got the wind blown out of her chest as she was blasted backwards.

Gasping for breath, she stumbled up. Sighing as she watched Aaron run for his life, she pointed the sword at the octopus and threw it swiftly after.

The sword slashed across its face, "Aaron, attack it in the face while it's still in pain!"

Nodding, he slashed its face several times until it fell, and disintegrated.

"Wow, nothing more fun then exploding- YEOWCH!"

Aria grabbed his ear and yanked as hard as she could, "Never again! Repeat!"

Aaron fought back tears, "We survived!"

"On a Whim! So repeat after me! I WILL NOT FIGHT AGAINST ANOTHER ONE OF THESE THINGS UNTIL MY OLDER SISTER THINK'S IT'S ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!"

"Sister you don't have to scream in my ear!"

"REPEAT IT!" She bellowed, threatening to rip off his small ear.

"I WILL NOT FIGHT AGAINST ANOTHER ONE OF THESE THINGS UNTIL MY OLDER SISTER THINK'S IT'S ALRIGHT!"

Letting go of his ear, she prodded her ribs, "Good now lets get outta here…huh?"

A small tablet suddenly formed in front of her. Taking it, she stored it into her pocket and motioned for them to leave.

"Did you see that, my dodging techniques were awesome! I mean did you see how many times I missed those crates!"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes Aaron, I saw while getting the wind knocked outta me."

He pouted with a cute look, "Sorry, but we got the tablet which is important."

Coming towards the exit of the island, Aria started to Monolougue about how she didn't want them both to fight another one, before she got good feelings, when she turned around he wasn't there.

"Aaron?" looking around she couldn't find him, and passed back through the other passageway.

"Aaron!"

He stood up, "Sorry, I lost interest in what you were saying, anyway what do you think about these flowers?"

Aria narrowed her eyes to slits, "And how many times have I told you to listen to a big sisters intuition. And they are beautiful, Why?"

He shrugged, "Just thought about stuff, anyway shall we go?"

She nodded. Walking towards her, he suddenly fell down. "Aaron? What are you doing?"

He looked around, "I dunno, I just felt like collapsing."

A growl howled through the wind. Her stomach churned.

"Oh no… AARON RUN!" She screamed.

He looked up to her, but then suddenly coughed up blood, "W-what?"

A dark cloud suddenly beamed down, and pounced onto him.

"Wh-What are you?" He yelped as he saw the dark claw pound down onto his back from the corner of his eye.

Aria heard the all too familiar sound of bones crunching.

Screaming to high heavens, Aaron turned to her, "ARIA RUN!"

Her knees shook as she stared into the red eyes of the black clouded beast. "Please tell me I'm dreaming!"

Aaron stared at her, with complete fear in his eyes, "ARIA RUN NOW!"

Growling even louder, the beast stomped on him again. His eyes started to fade, "Aria….please… his intentions are to kill…"

Tears formed in her eyes, _"Crap…" _She thought, _"This is a dream, it has to be, tell me this is a dream." _

Finally when Aaron fainted, the beast gazed upon her with murderous eyes.

Taking out her sword, she was stopped when a blast of light attacked the beast. Looking around, she spotted no one. Her eyes became clouded with tears, when she felt arms take hold of her shoulders, and pull her backwards.

"You stupid…. You dreamt about this several times and yet paid no heed to its warning?"

Her eyes widened, "This feeling…" She muttered, and turned around.

* * *

TBC


	10. Broken

Enjoy

* * *

Her eyes widened, at who it was. "How did you know about my dreams!"

He sighed, "Unlike my grandfather, and father, I have the ability to see others dreams, you stupid human… so why did you not take warning to those dreams?"

"Wait, why did you see my dreams Orphas!"

Orland glared, and wiped the tears away from her face, "I honestly thought you would've listened to me, and your dreams… have you forgotten Elves are not just normal beings?"

Her face was pale, "I…Wait Aaron!"

"He's long gone, worry about yourself now!"

Aria struggled from his grasp, "No I need to help him! Get off of me!"

Orland tightened his grasp on her, "watch."

The beast started charging t

owards the two, lifting up his hand, he muttered something in Elvish, and a beam of light charged at the beast again hitting it square in the face. Staggering, it roared towards them, before disintegrating back into a dark cloud of dust, and disappeared.

Aria stared, awestruck from the horror in front of her. Aaron's ribs were showing, and a pool of blood had already formed beneath him.

Biting Orland's hand, he released her from shock alone, and she pelted towards him.

"A-Aaron!" Grabbing him, she let the tears stream down her face.

His eyes stirred open slightly, "A-aria….."

She looked at him, "Aaron you're going to be okay, alright?"

He choked a smile, "Did…I…do…good….?"

Her lip trembled, "Y-y-y-yes… you did well, but why d-d-o you ask?"

He smiled, "Good….glad…." he coughed up blood again. "Aria….lease….promise…. e….ou…ill…ind….dad…" He smiled, barely able to lift up his hand.

"I-I promise…"

"An…I'm…. sorry…" A tear fell from his face, before his eyes clouded.

Aria closed her eyes, "No, don't leave me, Aaron please!" She shrieked, holding him in her arms. "Wake me up! Wake me up please!"

Other footsteps quickened before she barely heard a voice, "Orland, what are you doing in this place! Wait little human?"

She felt a hand grab her shoulder, "Little human what did you do?"

She could barely make out Jake's face. "I-I-I don't know! Aaron, and t-that beast….I just…. Couldn't. I'm sorry!" She cried, trying to get back to Aaron,

"He's dead?"

Jake pulled her away, "Orland, take her away from him!" he shouted, with a hint of fear in his eyes.

Orland was hesitant from the broken skin on his hand where she bit him, but the glare he got from his father was far more threatening.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he dragged her away from Aaron. Jake then picked up Aaron, and motioned for Orland to follow him. Heading back to the farm, Aria managed the courage to get into the house, and scream for her mother.

Rosalind came out, her face suddenly turning pale from the sight of Aaron's shattered body, Orland kept his place next to Aria.

"W-What happened." She managed to say.

Jake looked down, "We found him this way… I'm sorry…"

Tears streamed down her face, as she took Aaron from his arms.

"Is he…"

Jake nodded. "Orland, let's go, we must give em' time."

Orland nodded, following him out.

Two days later, the funeral was held, and the next day from the funeral, Roseland held Aria close, "Aria… What happened to Aaron?"

Aria looked down, "Well… you see… we were farming… and a giant black cloud of something came down, and stomped on him twice… I couldn't." She sniffed before continuing, "…save him…"

Rosalind remained silent, "From now on, I don't want you to farm in the caves."

Aria looked up, "But!"

"No buts! That monster has finally gotten to you…."

Aira cocked her head, "What do you mean mom?"

She covered her mouth for a moment, and smiled, "It's nothing sweetie, please just get some rest… and please promise me, you won't go into the forests, please…."

Aria nodded her head, but it was a promise, she knew she would have to break. And what did she mean about the monster had found her. Aria had several questions run through her head at once… and all she could focus on was why, why that thing had been looking at her, when it killed her brother….

* * *

TBC


	11. Unusual Swords

Enjoy

* * *

A few days passed, and Aria was finally fed up of staying at home, and stewing in her own depression, so she decided to go back to school.

Heading inside, the kids were a little more silent then usual, especially Cammy, her eyes looked red and slightly puffed, Aria too had slightly puffed eyes, but most of her crying happened when he had first died.

Looking around the rest of them seemed a little more depressed.

Huffing she stated, "How long are all of you going to sulk!"

They looked at her. "You can't say you aren't depressed too."

Aria sighed, "Listen, we can't stew in depression alright… it becomes unbearable to live with yourself if you do that, so please…"

Mana clapped when she came into the classroom, "Alright class we'll be learning about how to make Chinese dishes, and various deserts." She beamed, but you could tell that even she was affected by Aaron's death.

Sitting next to Orland like she always did, he humphed.

"Well at least your acting normal."

Orland sighed, "You know, if someone close to me died, I probably wouldn't be back in school, and especially not ridiculing others about morning for your brother."

She smiled slightly, "Like I said, I'm just glad you're not all sympathetic for me."

"You're just a stupid human."

After the class, Orland didn't make any hateful remarks towards her, "Hold on a minute, you are sympathizing…"

He blushed slightly, "Am not… I just don't feel like ridiculing you…"

"Oh then what is that small little blush I see on your face?"

He glared at her, "You are so annoying you know that! Honestly…"

Aria smirked. "Which reminds me." Her face grew more serious. "How are you able to see dreams?"

He looked away, "It's not controlled alright… if I had a choice, I would've stayed out of your dreams… but I couldn't alright? I don't know how I saw your dreams and I don't know why, but just say thank you and this can all be over alright human…"

Aria frowned, "O really? What other dreams have you seen?"

He scowled at her, "Aria, really don't feel like explaining, but if it helps that small mind of yours, none alright!"

Aria raised an eyebrow, but he stormed off with his books before she could ask, and muttered, "Stupid human… asking me trivial questions."

Walking out of the school, she headed over to the notice board. She spotted a notice crossed out from Cammy.

"I need some flowers."

Her head started to pang, "_What do you think of these flowers?_" A tear ran down her eye, if only she had known that Aaron could've successfully given her the flowers…

Heading down the road, she looked towards Tanya's shop, and walked inside. "Ah love, how are you feeling!" Tanya greeted Aria warmly as she came up to her.

Smiling, she replied, "Good Tanya, just a little tired."

Tanya patted her on the head, "If there is anything I can do for you, and just say the word alright?"

She nodded, "Do you know of any swords that can be good defense and good offence?"

Tanya raised an eyebrow, Aria quickly covered it up,

"Just in case an orc or something comes down into the mainland."

Rubbing her chin, she pondered, "Your going to disobey your mother aren't you?"

Aria looked down, "…..NMas…"

Tanya patted her again, "Well luv, you'll have to be discrete about it… hmm lets see what I have."

Looking up, she stared gob smacked, "You aren't going to tell me that it's dangerous- that I'll get killed, or some big creature is going to kill me one day?"

Tanya chuckled, "Jake might tell you that stuff in hopes of terrifying you outta it. But I personally know, that you will not be convinced and would just try to find another solution… sooo."

Looking through all the piles of scrap metal she finally pulled out an iron box. "For 10,000 gold you may have this."

Aria looked at it, "What is it?"

"Inside of this box there are two exact looking molds, find out what to do, which is all I will tell you, so take or no?"

Taking out her pouch, she handed her 10,000 gold.

Tanya nodded, and handed her the box.

"By the way, I've only made a few of these, so make sure you are precise with all of the metals you use with it. After all, I've trained with only one sword."

Aria nodded, barely holding the box with both hands. "Thank you Tanya!"

Tanya laughed, "Don't worry about it child, we do not need to lose another loved one, but take that over to the school instead of the house alright… I'll have to refund you."

Aria smiled, "Don't worry I was planning on doing that."

Taking the box over to the school, she looked around before heading in to make sure that Barrett nor Mana were around when she headed inside, and over to the workshop.

Opening the box, there were several strange looking tools along with two molds of identical looking swords. There was also a block of wood, shinier metal then iron, but less shiny then refined gold or platinum, and a very small black rock. Picking up the black rock, it was as dull as charcoal, but it didn't crumble when she scratched it with her nail slightly.

Placing it back, she closed the box. "What am I supposed to do with this…" She muttered before walking over to the supply closet, and storing inside of there, before heading back home and falling asleep. Next day she let her mind wander, about what both of those sword molds could possibly be, after all, they were not like a sword design she's ever seen or heard of before...

"An so we finally use an insect skin, any questions?"

Her hand reacted on its own and lifted itself into the air.

"Yes Aria?" He asked.

"What hypothetically would two swords be used for?"

Barrett rubbed his chin. "…. By what situation do you mean?"

Aria swallowed, "I mean two of the exact same molds of a sword, but it's one that has a very strange design?"

Sighing, he pondered, "…. Well I would usually say that it could be a spare sword if one was to be destroyed, but…. There is a form of swords that are called duel blades. Although if I recall…. not many people ever use the style of swordsmanship. Why do you ask?"

Aria shook her head, "I was reading a book on swords, and one came up, I couldn't read the writing, but they looked unusual."

Nodding, he stated, "Yes elves tend to use that style of swordsmanship more then humans or dwarves. Dual blade fighting is more of an agile technique, and requires a lot of discipline. Does this answer your question?"

She nodded, "Thank you sir!" Orland gave her a questioning look.

After class, all of the kids left the room except for Aria, who was drawing again.

"Why so curious about an Elven weapon?"

She jumped slightly, "Don't scare me twinkle toes, I just saw it in a book when I was at Tanya's."

He raised an eyebrow, "Doing what?"

Standing up, she growled, "Why do you care, honestly, you're always bothering me about the caves, then just because I was curious about a weapon I had never seen."

He closed his eyes, "You didn't answer my question."

"I handed the spear that Aaron owned back to Tanya alright,"

"Your lying."

"Am not!"

"I can hear it Aria."

"I'm not, honestly I just walked in there!"

"But not to give her the spear."

"Why are you talking to me, don't you just ignore me for the most part?"

"Now because I'm right you feel like you have to change the subject."

She flinched, "Stop acting like a know it all! Just because you're an elf doesn't mean you know everything alright!" She yelled backing away from him.

He stared blankly, "And why do you never try to open up to others? Your human right?"

She thought about it, most people didn't know about this whole situation about her going into the caves, or really how Aaron died. Even her own mother had no idea she held two tablet stones.

Once again what is now 2 points for the elf, 0 for the human.

He sighed, "So are you going to tell me, or will I have to ask Tanya myself?"

She remained silent for several moments. "She won't tell you, and nor will I, alright, keep your nose outta my business alright!"

Grabbing her wrist, he stared at her dangerously, "Aria, I now don't even have to know, you're voice tells me you own something similar to them. Let me tell you, listen to your mother, don't go back in there!"

Pulling her hand back, she growled, "Why?"

"Didn't you learn from you're brothers death? That thing is after you two, now tell me?"

Raising an eyebrow, she remarked, "So you don't know? You were lying this time!"

"Aria, it is rare for me to call humans by their names, but I can see your dreams! Have you forgotten about that?"

Pausing for a moment, she looked away, "…..Tanya handed me a template for a duel sword, she said it was something that could be used as a defense and offence."

Sighing with exasperation, he muttered, "Why would Tanya give you such a weapon?"

Turning away, Aria sighed, "Probably cause she knows I would be better off with it, and from now on, stop telling me that I need to stop going into the caves, I don't care if I see that shadowed beast again, just as long as I… never mind!"

* * *

TBC


	12. New Clothing

Enjoy

* * *

Tossing and turning in her bed, Aria whimpered in her dream….

* * *

_Standing in the middle of one of the cave rooms, she felt a murderous aura haunt her body. _

_"W-Who's there!" she growled, tightening her grip on the hilt. _

_"Rashran…." _

_Her body stiffened, the voice was venomous, and complex. _

_"Huh?" Turning around, she spotted nothing unusual, that was until she noticed a red glint form in the corner of her eye. _

_Turning towards it, she spotted the same shadowed monster that killed Aaron. _

_"Y-You." _

_Fear flowed through her body as her legs buckled beneath her. _

_Snarling, it advanced towards her._

_ Lifting a shadowed claw up into the air, she screamed. _

_"AAA~~"

* * *

_

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

She gasped for breath! Sweating profusely.

Checking to see if all of her body parts were intact, she sighed with relief.

"Aria, are you alright?" Rosalind ran into the room with her pajama's on.

Sighing, she nodded, "Yeah… I'm fine mother… just a bad dream."

Raising an eyebrow, Rosalind muttered, "You've been having nightmares a lot recently, haven't you?"

Nodding, her breath regulated back to normal, "I guess I've just been eating something bad recently."

"Well sleep better tonight."

In the morning, Aria crawled out of bed. Placing on her clothing, she noticed it fit a little tighter then she remembered. Looking down, her shorts seemed to come up mid-thigh instead of her knees; her shirt was now barely covering her bra.

"Oh great… and I just made these a few months ago…" Her feet seemed to be an inch longer, and the shoes she used no longer fit her feet.

Rosalind chuckled slightly, "Oh Aria, you're clothing…"

"I know! How am I supposed to go to school with the same clothing I've grown out of…"

"You could always create new ones?"

An idea popped into her head, "Oh yes! Thank you for reminding me mom!"

Hugging her mother, she picked up her shoulder bag, and ran barefooted towards the school. Once inside, she ignored some of the stares that Roy, the pervert as she liked to call him, was giving her.

Sitting down next to Orland, he sighed, "I knew it… I knew it…" he muttered.

Tilting her head in confusion, she asked, "What?"

"That stupid monster's after you!" he hissed, "If you don't listen to your mother, then listen to me, don't-go-into-the-caves, got that human!"

Glowering, she growled, "I'm still going to…"

"Why, what could be so important to waste your life going in there?"

Narrowing her eyes, she looked away, "It's none of your business…"

"Alright class…. Aria…."

"What?"

"Leann please could you write down the lessons work and then give it to Aria once she's done getting new clothing, those are too small for you."

Looking down, she sighed, "Yes Ma'am…" Standing up, she noticed Roy smirking, "Wipe that smirk off you're face before I-"Aria, no threats please."

Walking out of the room, she headed into what she liked to call the work room.

"Hmm… What to make…"

Taking out some left over black cloth from her shirt, she started to measure herself out, and cut the fabric to size.

During the break, Leann and Cammy helped her out with measurements, helping her refix the size of the shirt, however Aria claimed that she wanted the shirt a little looser this time.

After about five hours of trimming, sowing, eating, and talking, Aria now had a shirt, and ¾ pants that were now black, and a beige short skirt that came down about mid-thigh.

"What are you to do with shoes?"

"I'll just make them myself, by the way for helping me."

Handing them 2000 gold, Cammy took it gladly, but Leann held it back, "Don't worry, I was just helping you as a cousin."

Sighing, Aria pouted, "Leann."

"Not the pout."

"Want Dina to come out?"

Flinching, she sighed, "Fine…fine…"

Hesitantly, she took the money.

"Thanks aria!" Cammy chirped.

"No problem, I know how five hours worth of work can be a killer…"

"My eyes are actually blurry, but remember how you helped me make a new dress because of my old one burning."

Nodding, she sighed, "Yeah, that ignis was pissed."

"Well we'd better go home before our parent's get angry, see you Aria!"

Waving, she replied, "Goodbye."

Watching them leave the room, she turned towards the closet.

Opening it up, she noticed that the box containing the duel blades was missing.

Turning around, she growled, "I'm gonna kill him…"

Running over to the Inn, she entered, to see Egan by the register desk.

"Oh Aria, welcome."

"Hello Egan, do you know where Orland is?"

"Up in his room I think…."

"Thank you." She muttered, running up the stairs.

Walking into his room, she slammed a hand down on his work. "Where did you put it?"

Moving her hand out of the way, he continued reading, "Put what?"

"My box!"

"What box?"

"Don't play dumb with me!"

"What box?"

"The iron box in the closet… you know… that holds the duel blades mold?"

"It was in a metal box?"

"Yeah?"

"I thought she just handed you the molds."

"No a metal box this big!"

Continuing his reading, he muttered, "I haven't seen it."

"Liar!"

"Feel free to look in any place I go, or even places I don't. If you're retarded enough to the caves, I would gladly teach you how to use them so you don't completely maul yourself."

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel good…"

"It should, maybe it'll knock some sense into that human brain of yours."

Pausing for a moment, she lifted her hand off the desk. "My father…."

Turning his attention towards her, he raised an eyebrow,

"My father alright, he's the reason I do all of this! I'm not rebellious… I just…"

"hm… that's a stupid reason to go into the caves… I heard your father disappeared, and even when my grandfather goes to the caves, he doesn't sense much there."

"Honestly, you ask me several times, and then call it stupid, why are boy elves so hard to understand!"

huffing, she walked out of the room, leaving him to go back to his work.

Walking down the sidewalk, she pondered, "If he didn't take the box… then who did… barrette? Ack?"

Looking down at her feet, a small stone cut the bottom of her foot slightly.

"Ah man, I forgot to make shoes… crud…"

Walking home, she set her bag onto one of the chairs.

Sitting down on another, she placed a hand over her cut, and cured it within a matter of seconds.

"Oh Aria, I didn't expect you home early?"

Jumping slightly, she saw Rosalind come in the room.

"Oh, yeah…"

"Something bothering you?"

"Nothing… I've just become a little bored from not being able to farm…"

"Aria, those caves are dangerous…"

"I know, but it would be bad for business if I can't farm there!"

"Aria…" Sighing, she looked down, "Where are you're shoes?"

"I forgot to make them…"

"my... fine… because you feel so inclined to go, I'll let you, but only to farm, I don't want to hear anything about you getting scrapes on yourself."

Shining, Aria hugged her, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"It's alright, I forgot you're your fathers daughter, and he too farmed in there and had no problems…"

skipping off to bed, she placed on her pajama's and dozed off into what could be called a more sane dream…

* * *

TBC


	13. A What Hunter?

Enjoy

* * *

Sitting upright in class, she winced when she felt a small pain under her ribcage.

"Finally we add some flour and oil to make it extra breaded." 'Briiiing!' hearing the bell ring, she got out of her seat and walked over to Leann.

"Hello there aria,"

Smiling, she replied, "Hey… by the way…" bringing her voice down low enough that Orland couldn't hear her, "Could you maybe…. Distract Orland for me?"

"What for?"

"I wanna do something, but I know he'll get in the way."

Pondering, she shrugged, "I dunno what I could do aria… I mean…"

"Leann… you're the most beautiful thing I've seen in my whole entire life."

Her eyes narrowed, "Where are the men in this facility! It's time to go hunting!"

Walking up to the boys once Mana was gone, she took out a whip, "Who's first!"

Whimpering back, the three of them ran away from her as aria slipped out of the building.

"NOOOOO NOT THE FRILLLS!" Lionel shrieked. Chuckling to herself slightly, she continued into the caves.

Battling several Orcs, and goblins, she rubbed her sweating forehead. "Man… after being away from the caves for so long, I guess I've gotten a little unfit, right Loi?"

Loi barked in agreement.

He was a normal timber wolf her fathers and he didn't really listen to her often other then when she talked to him about trivial things.

Sniffing the ground, he bit onto another Goblin sending it back to the forest of beginnings.

Suddenly feeling a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach, she shouted, "Okay Loi, lets check another cave! Malessia Valley doesn't have the box."

Ignoring her, he pressed forward.

Sighing with exasperation, she ran after him, "Loi I'm serious! Let's get back!"

Continuing to sniff the ground, he barked and ran off.

"Loi! Come here!" Ignoring her once again, he ran off.

"I need another wolf… that will LISTEN TO ME!" She yelled, running after him.

Hhe sniffed the ground again. Barking, he sat down, and howled.

Running up to him, she noticed a familiar iron box, rusted inside of the river.

"Oh so to punish me, he threw it into the water… I just hope…"

Heading into the shallow part of the river, she picked it up, and dragged it back to the surface.

Looking inside, all of the contents, including the two molds were missing.

"Okay I'm really going to kill him now… I paid 10,000 gold for that!"

Sniffing the air again, Loi whimpered slightly before turning around and pelting off.

Raising an eyebrow, she sighed, "Loi, what is it with you and running off."

A howl in the wind rang through her ears as clear as fingers on a chalkboard. Looking around frantically, she spotted a black cloud form above the water.

"Y-you."

Snarling, it darkened and advanced towards her.

Tripping backwards, she continued to stumble back, eyes focused on the clouded beast.

What looked like it landing onto the ground, it opened its red eyes, and stared at her for a moment.

Backing away even more, it hunched up before charging towards her. However it flipped backwards, and snarled, when footsteps approached it.

"I knew I would find you here…" Walking in front of her, Orland took out two similar looking swords.

Backing away slightly, the cloud snarled venomously. Slashing the ground, a blast of fire erupted from the twin blades. Cowering away from the flames, the cloud disintegrated into thin air.

Turning around, he pulled on her hair, "What where you thinking you would gain by using Leann's bi polar problems to distract me…"

Failing miserably to get free from his grasp, she growled, "I was looking for the box!"

Raising an eyebrow, he stated disbelievingly, "So you think it would be around here?"

"Well of course not, but I found it!"

Closing his eyes, he muttered, "Do you have any idea what that thing is?"

Stopping momentarily, she raised an eyebrow, "No?"

Sighing, he shook his head, "To think, your mother, my father, and even Tanya wouldn't tell you…. It's a hunter… It hunts Earthmates and kills them."

"But I'm not a…"

Interrupting her, he continued, "You are an earthmate, your father told my father he was an earthmate, and you must be an earthmate because that thing is chasing you…"

Sighing, she shook her head, "Orphas do you even realize what you're saying?"

He looked away, "I say this much…. And you still…. Never mind, from now on you're on your own!"

Sticking her tongue out, she retorted, "Good, I'm glad you've finally learned!"

"That you're the most idiotic human I know about…"

"HEY!" Swerving around, he walked off after placing his hands into his pockets.

Raising an eyebrow, she shook her head. "What was that about?"

Heading back towards her house, the bath house almost caught her complete attention.

Creaking the door of the bath house open, it was shut instantly. "Aria, can you please stay out right now?"

"Ummm?"

"It'll only take a second!"

Some rustling was heard inside, before Cammy opened the door. "What was that about."

Scratching the back of her head, she shook her head, "Lionel was doing his homework in the baths… I told him not to stay in the baths for more then an hour."

Moving to the side, she pointed to a red faced, unconscious clothed Lionel on the floor.

"He got to caught up in his work so much that he fainted…"

Sweat dropping, Aria muttered, "How often does this happen?"

"Well it's mostly Orland due to his problem with heat, Lionel, some of the adults, and Roy just because he's weird…"

"Orland has a weakness to heat?"

"Yeah, haven't you seen him try to muscle wearing his winter clothing, while doing school work?"

Shaking her head, Aria replied, "No, it's doesn't usually cross my mind…"

Cammy chuckled slightly, "Don't tell him I told you that… he's embarrassed enough that a 'human' had to clothe him when he fainted."

Laughing, Aria blew a piece of her fringe out of the way, "Yeah, it must be really interesting to work inside of a hot bath."

"Well you learn a lot of things… anyway, I suppose you're here for a bath?"

Nodding, she took out money from her pockets, "ten gold right?"

Nodding, she took the ten gold. "Enjoy the baths."

After getting undressed, she sighed as the hot water soaked into her skin. "By the way, I see you still haven't made your shoes."

"Ah yes… I forgot…"

"You might need to, especially because I think you tracked blood into here."

"Ah… that was the goblin, sorry, I forgot that my back got cut."

"Are you sure you don't have some kind of problem with pain?"

"I dunno, I thought I missed the attack, but it seemed I got cut… for some strange reason it didn't hurt…"

"Hmmm?" After soaking for a few more minutes, she left, and headed back to the farm. Walking into the house, she spotted her mother cooking something.

"What's for dinner?"

"a light salad."

"Ah, light salad, do we have any extra tofu?"

Rosalind held up a small plate of tofu.

"Ah good, I'll be down in a moment then!" Dressing into her pajama's, she came down to enjoy dinner, and fell asleep into another nightmare.

* * *

TBC


	14. Weiss

Enjoy

* * *

Falling off of the bed once again, she rubbed her head, "What was that…?"

"Aria, you're finally awake?" Hugging her, Rosalind cried. "I thought you weren't going to wake up!"

Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "ummm…."

"You don't remember...?"

* * *

Falling off of the bed once again, she rubbed her head, "Uhh wait…"

"Aria, are you alright?" Rosalind was standing at the doorway with a concerned look on her face.

"Uhh… yeah… were you going to tell me something?"

Pondering, she shook her head, "Not that I know of..."

Sighing, she rubbed her temples. "That was weird…"

A few days had passed, she finally made her shoes. Stretching, she stumbled upwards, and used a nearby wall for support. Getting dressed, she headed out towards school.

"No, No, and for the last time NO!"

"Why not?"

"Why would I not wear a dress? I'm a boy, do the math!"

"But you let Leann use you as a model!"

"She ties me up with rope, I highly doubt I go willingly…"

"Please Orland! I'm making this dress for Serena!"

Walking in the room, all of them turned towards her as she set a bag down.

"What?"

"Aria you have about the same waist width as Orland and Serena, could you help me with a dress I want to make for her, he's~" She pointed to Orland with a frown on her face, "Being unfair about not helping me out!"

Shrugging, she sighed, "Sure, plus, he's flat chested, I don't think he would do well for a source anyway."

"I'm glad to hear that, now I don't have to have some stinking human dress me up in something so…" Shuddering, he walked over to his chair.

After lessons, Aria was pulled along by Sera into the work room. "Okay can you just stand still…."

"What is this for?"

"Our birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks, and because I'm almost done, I just needed someone to test it on before I give it to Serena."

Aria sighed, "Ah yes, I forgot you're both turning 13, you two look older then that."

Sera smiled, zipping up the back of the dress. "How does it feel?"

Moving around, she pouted in concentration, "It fits well actually, I'm pretty sure it should fit her."

Sera smiled, "Ah good, I was afraid that it would be too big.."

"So is this a special dress, or an everyday wearing dress."

"Everyday wearing dress, we're both giving each other dresses."

Unzipping the dress again, Sera slipped it off of Aria, and folded it back up.

"Thanks aria…" Searching her pockets, she took out a fried mackerel.

"I dunno if you wanted this, I found a mackerel and cooked it and thought if Orland helped me, then I would give it to him, but I guess I'll give it to you, is that alright?"

Taking the fried mackerel, she raised an eyebrow, "Why a mackerel?"

Sera smiled, and washed her hands, "Orland likes fried mackerel, and because I know how to make it, I decided if he was willing to help then I'd give him something he likes."

Placing the mackerel into her bag, she nodded, "Alright, thanks."

She smiled awkwardly. "No Aria, thank you, I know how you never like ummm… wearing dresses."

Waving her hand in front of her face, she chuckled, "Pfft don't worry about it, even I wear dresses sometimes, anyway see you later."

Waving, she exited the room.

Looking around the classroom, she took the fried mackerel out, and placed it in his bag, seeing that he didn't have any lunch.

Heading out of the school, she took out her water pot and ran over to the caves. "3….6…..9…"

Watering the squares, she saw a small golden wolf appear out of the portals. Her eyes widened, what was such a creature doing in Malessia valley.

Walking towards it, it snarled at her. Taking out the friendship glove, she neared her hand towards it.

Biting her hand, her eyes narrowed, and she then flipped it onto its back, "What was that? Biting me is unacceptable!"

Whimpering, it looked away instantly. "That's better."

Picking it up, she petted it with the friendship glove. "I didn't want to do that… but biting is only what you do to orcs, goblins, insects, etc."

After petting it for a while, the wolf snuggled itself into her shirt.

Smiling, she picked it up. "Hmm.. boy… do you want to stay with me?"

Wagging his tail, he licked her face.

Smiling she placed him in her arms again, "Alright then, you'll be called... Weiss*."

Panting, Weiss was teleported back to the farm.

Standing up she brushed herself off. A howl in the wind echoed, while Aria's stomach lurched. "Oh no…"

* * *

TBC

*Weiss is pronounced as vice


	15. Shadow Hunter Strikes

Enjoy

* * *

"RAAAAAAAA!"

Aria swerved around to see the black cloud emerge from a tree. Turning around, she pelted north, the direction she didn't want to go. "AAAAAHHHH!" she screamed, jumping past orcs, and other animals.

The cloud then emerged in front of her.

Turning towards another entrance, she was headed deeper into the forest.

Tripping over a rock, she struggled to get up. A claw slammed down onto her body, before picking her up. Looking into the eye of the red beast, tears threatened to fall.

"Nngggh get off!" Snarling, it threw her back to a tree. Hearing something crack in her spine, she gasped in pain, before staggering back up, and running as fast as her torn up legs would take her.

Following to the end of the cave, she panicked and looked around. Shadow was no where around, at least she thought, until two gigantic hands enveloped her, and blasted her into the water.

Swimming back to the surface, she gagged out water, and looked up to see shadow looming over her. "s-s-s-so y-your just t-t-rying to to-torture me aren't you!" tears fell, as her teeth clicked together.

"sssssssstt….ssstttsstt." A head was defined in the shadow, as it leaned down, and growled venomously.

"You're g-going to kill me… a-aren't you?"

Raising its head, roared, before bringing a claw up.

Covering her face, she screamed as the clouded beasts claw crashed beside her. Opening her eyes, she noticed the shadow dematerialize, and form into three swords. Flying straight at her, one pierced into her heart, another into the stomach, and the final into her shadow.

Almost as if the swords were melting into her, she felt an excruciating pain which felt like her insides were being torn from the inside out. Screaming in pain, she clutched onto her stomach as she fell to the ground.

* * *

Elsewhere

* * *

"Alright class, lessons are over." Barrette closed his book, and headed out of the classroom.

Looking to his side, Orland frowned. Aria hadn't been to school since first period. Looking inside of his bag, he noticed a fried Mackerel. Staring at it, he failed to comprehend when he last had Mackerel, especially because it was nearly, and mackerel come only in fall. Placing it onto the table, he was about to consider eating it, when his stomach lurched.

Roy walked up to him with a partially playful, partially worried look on his face, "Yo, Orland, you alright? You look pale."

Standing up, he grabbed his bag, and slung it over his shoulder. "I'm fine! Stupid human…" Leaving the classroom, he headed towards one of the caves.

"What has that human done now to make me feel sick…" He muttered walking into Triste forest. His stomach lurched, as he held his mouth shut. The black hunter was no where in sight, but… He saw Aria on the ground, blood on her face, and black veins pulsed throughout her body revealing something had happened.

Picking her up, he had to stop himself from vomiting, as he pelted towards the hospital.

Opening the doors, he stopped just before bumping into Ray.

Turning around after giving Lionel one of his shots, Ray noticed Orland standing right in front of him.

His eyes widened, "Orland, what happened here?"

He shook his head, "I don't know, she was unconscious on the floor."

Taking her from Orland's grasp, Ray placed her onto the hospital bed, and checked for vital signs. "Her body's shaking uncontrollably, pulse has gone wild!"

* * *

TBC


	16. Katrina

Enjoy

* * *

Lying in the bed, Aria's eyes fluttered slightly while she groaned.

Covering her eyes, she slowly sat up. "Man, how long were you going to take getting up?"

Opening her eyes, she noticed someone sitting beside her. A girl it looked with red eyes, black braided hair, fair skin, and clothing similar in shape and design to hers.

"Wh-who are you?"

Sighing, she shook her head, "Honestly, how could you not recognize me?"

She transformed into a clouded figure. "Y-You?"

Placing a finger on her lips, shadow hunter hushed her, "Yes it's me."

"What are you doing out of the forests? Why do you physically look like me?"

"Shhhh! I'll tell you everything, but right now be quiet."

Glowering at her, she asked, "What is your name? No wait, why are you here?"

"Katrina, now listen to me, I have inhabited your form, and shadow."

Staring in shock, she shook her head, "Form and shadow?"

"I don't have much time t-"Wait you killed my brother!"

"For a very good reason, now please shut up and let me explain!"

Footsteps padded down the stairs.

Growling, Katrina sighed, "Don't tell anyone about this! And if you do, please let me explain myself first…"

She disappeared into Aria's shadow, almost like a planet being sucked into a vortex.

Looking around, Aria went back to rubbing her temples. "Aria?"

Natalie walked into the room.

Opening her eyes, Aria raised an eyebrow, "Hm?"

"You're awake?"

"Uhhh… yeah?"

Turning the light bright enough, that she could see Aria, she sighed with relief.

"Oh, someone must really care for you."

Tilting her head to the side, she asked, "Why?"

"That's right… Aria you've been out all summer…"

Her eyes widened, "What?"

Natalie shushed her, "Yes a whole season, we thought you would never pull through, after all you kept on getting spasms and rough breathing."

Raising an eyebrow, she muttered, "So what happened?"

Natalie shook her head, "We have no idea, the only thing we found in your body were small little black crystals that wouldn't separate themselves from you."

"_That was me… sorry about that…"_

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"Were you not listening, about the black crystals?"

"Oh I knew about that… but…" 

_"This is Katrina by the way, I can still communicate to you, but I wouldn't reply if I were you, after all, no one can hear me but you." _

Raising an eyebrow, Aria sighed. "That's very… uhh… interesting."

Natalie shook her head, "Another problem is that usually that shadowed beast would be detected by Jake, or Orland, but when we asked if the beast was there, they said they couldn't sense it anywhere." _"Duh… because I'm fused…. Moron." _

"Oy…"

"Hm?"

Rubbing her temples, she muttered, "Oh nothing… my head just hurts…"

Nodding, Natalie smiled, "Well anyway, it's still very early in the morning, get some sleep and we'll tell your mother you're back."

Standing up, she stopped at the door. "Oh, you're mother was terrified about losing you… you might want to be a lot more careful in the future with farming."

Smiling slightly, she replied, "I'll try to…"

Hearing the footsteps reach the top of the second floor, she lied down in bed. "You're not going to get any sleep ya know?"

"How do you know?"

"Cause I'm gonna… wait never mind, sleep tonight, I'll be explaining about myself tomorrow!"

Closing her eyes, she fell into a deep sleep, and for once with no nightmares.

* * *

TBC


	17. The Six Dragons

Enjoy

* * *

"This way!" Katrina motioned for her to follow.

"Where are we going?" Aria exclaimed trying to follow her.

"Follow now, ask questions later!"

It was about 8 in the morning. She headed back to her house earlier that day to be hugged by Rosalind for what could be hours, had breakfast, and left to go do farming.

They were in the Pandovia mountains.

Clattering her teeth, Aria tried her hardest to catch up.

Walking over to a wall, Katrina smiled, "We're here!"

"Where?"

Reaching through the rock wall, she smiled cheekily, "Our destination!" Disappearing through the wall, and hand reappeared for Aria to follow.

"You sure I can come through this?"

"Touch the wall!"

Touching the wall hesitantly, her hand flew through it. Walking through, she stared in awe, 6 dragon statues were aligned in a circle.

Standing in the center, Katrina motioned for Aria to walk over to her. "These are the 6 ancient dragons of elements: Fire, water, air, and Earth, along with two others…. Light and darkness."

"What does this have to do with anything?" Aria asked.

"A very big part of it, you see, the four elements, fire, water, earth, and air, are the four Elder dragons…. However, the light dragon and the dark dragon were banished from the four, depicting both as unlucky dragons." Pausing for a moment, she continued, "The reason why you are here, is because of this."

Pointing to one of the dragons, she smiled, "This is me, the dark dragon."

"But you're just a big cloud of black stuff."

"In what normal people can see, now…"

Transforming, she took form of a gigantic, black dragon.

Transforming back, her smile was gone. "Now to explain… why I killed your brother."

Sitting on the stone, just beneath her form, she crossed her legs, "The reason why the light and dark dragons were banished, was from our death, we reside as spirits, and only Earthmates can ever fuse with us."

Raising an eyebrow, Aria asked, "So how does this consist of my brother's death?"

"Let me explain, your brother was simply already owned the light dragon…. He and I have never gotten along, and I could not inhabit your body if I hadn't rid of him… plus, even if he still survived he would have killed you."

"What? Why would Aaron ever think to kill me?"

"I wouldn't say your brother specifically, but the light dragon Kaim, would have killed you, due to the fact that you had the DNA perfect for me to inhabit… plus, you two would've been put at war if I had just simply inhabited your body…"

"So this Kaim was going to kill me?"

"When he awakes from his slumber… yes… after all he inhabited your brother when he was only 4."

Looking down, Aria shuddered slightly. "I see…."

Standing up, she walked over to Aria, "Don't worry small one, I will teach you how to fight properly, even better than an elf."

"How?"

Lifting her hand out, a black sword appeared. Another appeared, the point firmly in the ground. "I forged these swords from those molds you originally had… by the way, the black rock is called black ore, I dunno who gave you that, but it's poisonous for humans to breathe the smoke that comes off of it."

"Black ore?"

"Gives the sword the ability to use shadows, however I highly doubt you know how to use duel swords period."

Nodding, Aria paused for a moment, "So not to get off of the subject and such but… are you and that light dragon siblings?"

She wrinkled her nose in disgust, "Me and that bastard? No oh heavens no!"

Aria brought her hands up in defense, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry."

Sighing, Katrina shook her head, "Sorry, it's just, I hate his guts so much…"

Smiling, she sweat dropped, "It's alright, I understand how you would want to…. But still…"

"I'm really sorry about your brother… I really didn't want to kill him… but I couldn't mold with your shadow or body unless he was out of the way…."

* * *

TBC


	18. Shut Up You Fool!

Enjoy

* * *

"Oh that makes sense." She sighed, "But still, duel blades are hard to work with."

"Not if you know how to use them correctly.. anyway we shoul~" Sniffing the air, she disappeared into Aria's shadow again. "Katrina?"

"Aria…? Who were you talking to?"

Turning around, she saw Orland was only a few feet away. "Oh hi."

"Don't play dumb, who were you talking to?"

"Why do you care again?"

"I don't."

Crossing her arms, she shifted her weight onto her left leg, "Really? Then why are you asking me?"

"…Anyway Barrett sent me to find you, half of the class is almost over, and you should've been there an hour and a half ago."

Aria sweat dropped, "It took me that long to train…? Oops…"

Orland grabbed her by her jacket. "C'mon, I'll get in trouble too if I don't get you back…"

"_What a stiff… he's ruining your training and I can't teach you when he's around…" _

Aria shrugged, "What are you going to do about it?"

_"Shut up you fool!"_

"What?"

"Metaphorically, what would you do if I were to run away right now?"

"Grab you and drag you back by force."

"Figures…"

"Why?"

"Nothing, I just go into a conversation sequence in my head thinking of the best and worse turnouts, and your answer was the one I thought of as the worst, that or killing me and then dragging my dead body back."

"….. I'm saying this for you and the entire village's sanity, get some therapy, you've been acting strange ever since you were out all summer."

"And you're worried?"

"No just irritated…"

Sighing, she allowed him effortlessly drag her back. "You know, I'm not exactly the lightest person in the worl-"I'm an elf, remember."

Crossing her arms, she muttered, "How can I forget when you remind me ever bloody chance you can get."

Back at the school, Orland stood her up, "Found her."

Aria sighed, "Yup, I got captured."

"Don't be so proud you moron.."

"Better then human."

Sighing, he released his grip on her, and walked over to his seat before he sat himself down.

"Alright."

Sitting down next to him, she opened her book.

"It's time to make the first set of spears." He listed down the several components to make each spear.

"Why do multiple elemental spear stem off of one spear…." She muttered.

"Because, one spear is improved, like a spell. Idiot…"

"I see…."

He shook his head before going back to his work. 

_"Yeah, plus you should've learned that with each different spear there is stronger makes, just like swords, say you have a flame sword you can turn into an even stronger flame sword by adding more fire crystals, or even the dual blades you have they're probably some of the strongest stuff you're going to get."_

"I get it now, you don't need to explain more…!"

She hissed to herself. "Aria! Care to repeat what you just said?"

Scratching the back of her head, she smiled sheepishly, "Hehe, no sir."

She could feel a suspicious gaze to her left bore into the side of her head. "Would you stop looking at me…"

He narrowed his eyes...

Elsewhere in the blacksmiths burrow, Jake pounded metal against metal before wiping beads of sweat and setting the hammer down.

"Hmm, stopping work for today?" Tanya asked, most of her focus on forming the sword.

"Just taking a break…" He muttered, looking outside, "It's been 7 years since that day…"

* * *

_"Jake I must ask you of something… a spoiled request from a friend," Kyle looked him in the eye, "Promise me you'll…"

* * *

_

"I feel… that somehow that promise has been broken…" He muttered, staring unconsciously off into the direction of the forest…..

"I'm home…." Orland announced before taking off his sandals and placing them on (close to) the shoe rack.

"Orland." Turning his gaze to his father, he blinked. "Has Aria been acting at all strange since she came out of her coma?"

Looking away for a moment in thought, he nodded, "She's been talking to herself."

"Tch, I see then, thank you…"

"Dad?"

"It's nothing." _I fear the worst has happened then…_ He thought. "You were out later then usual as well, your mother got worried."

Looking away, he did the best he could of hiding his face, "I was told to help get Aria back up to date with her work… and that's not always a plus, especially because of her stubbornness…"

* * *

TBC


	19. Can I Bite His Butt?

Enjoy

* * *

Groaning in her sleep, Aria heard two snarls.

Opening her eyes, she spotted Katrina and Weiss snarling at one another. "What are you… two doing so early in the morning?" 

_"He's trying to take my food." _She spat, hovering over a small pile of apples and fish.

"You eat apples?" 

_"And grapes, pineapple, oranges, and even fish, yes I eat them all! And he's trying to take my only food from me…"_

"Oh gross Katrina, I'm going to have to clean up the mess you ma~" She twitched at a realization, "Oh my giddy aunt, did you…did you shrink?"

Looking at herself, she closed her eyes as if to smile, _"Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, unlike the others, I'm a rather fluffy black dragon, I hate the fluffy part, regardless I still am... this,"_

"…..I don't know weather to be happy or just humiliated that you are fluffy, and small… wait weren't you huge a couple of days/week(s) (maybe?) Ago?" 

_"Yes… I forgot to mention, we are actually sealed together by blood and bone, so when the connection is complete I become small again, oh and I'll be stealing your shadow once more to hide in, it's almost unbearable how humans stand such amounts of light."_

Grabbing the fish, she slid one over to Weiss before eating the rest herself.

"I thought you were complaining about the fact that he tried to eat your food_?" _

_"Ah, I'll let him off this time, but if he goes for my food again… I'll be having dog for dinner, you hear that you bloody hound?"_

Whimpering, Weiss backed away.

Putting on her jacket and skirt, she arranged the skirt so it fit comfortably on her hips. Looking at the calendar, her eyes widened, "The monster festival is tomorrow?" 

_Which means… yesterday was the day dad disappeared… _she thought.

_"Hmm, was it? Time passes so…" _

Turning to Katrina, she stared, "You knew my dad?"

_"The Earthmate? Yeah, kind man, saved me from that stinking lighter before he burned me to oblivion…"_

"Lighter?" 

_"That's what I call Kaim, literally, he glows…Hey! Speaking of annoyances, can I bite that bloody Elvin boys butt; he's really getting on my nerves!" _

"Yes, you may, but make it discreet."

Patting Weiss on the head, she traveled to school.

On her way, she broke the silence between her and Katrina "Wait I thought of something… sealing yourself to me by bone and blood… does that mean that you cannot transform back into a human form?"

_"No it just means until you bloody learn how to wield my abilities, I'll remain a small insufficient creature, which by the way, is your fault."_

"What do you mean by 'it's my fault'?"

_"It means that until you learn how to grow stronger you will never be able to use some of my other abilities, I might want to remind you I am a spirit dragon; I can teach you my abilities." _

Pondering, she turned her head side to side stating silently that Katrina had a point.

Spotting Orland ahead, Katrina growled slightly before stalking up to him and… "OW!" Nipped him right in the butt. Retreating back to the shadows, Aria bumped into him when he swerved around.

"Are you practicing your explosive spells again?" He frowned, clearly unhappy.

Pondering, she shook her head, "I only use the healing spell, must've been your imagination…"

He blinked, "It felt too real to be my imagination…"

"Who knows, maybe you have a boil on your butt." Restricting the urge to check, he looked away, "Let's just get to class."

"Hey are you going to enter the monster contest?"

Closing his eyes, he muttered, "I don't take pleasure in sending monsters to fight for me."

"Hmm? You must've gotten that from your mother,"

"...Anyway I don't think it's that amazing to have a strong monster, the best thing is to just stick as a farmer alright?"

Wait… was he referring to her? She smiled, before patting his head.

"Oy…" He looked up at her, a very unusual look on his face, "Don't tell anyone alright…"

"Secrets safe with me cause I know what you would say, "Roy would never let me hear the end of it"."

Looking away, he scratched his cheek, "Did you do the homework assignment yesterday?"

"Hm?"

"I'm not going to help you with all of it, and you were supposed to cook something last night."

She twitched, "I was?"

"Don't tell me you didn't do it?"

"Umm…"

Face palming; he shook his head, "What are you going to do?"

"Stir up something in the last minute?"

"Do you know what it is?"

"Umm."

"Make fried mackerel, it's a test since the winter is about 6 days from now."

"Oh great…"

Taking out a plastic bag from his school bag, he handed it to her, "You'd better hurry."

"Why did you store that?"

"...In case you forgot."

"You seem to be looking out for me a lot you know… it's kind of strange."

"Hm? I didn't even notice."

"Although you can still be quite annoying."

"Hm."

Displeased by that remark he hastened his pace.

Inside of the school, Aria handed over the fried mackerel and smiled at him, "Thanks!"

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

TBC


	20. Thunder Thumper

Enjoy

* * *

***BRRING!***

After class, Roy walked over to her, "Hey Aria! Are you going to enter the monster contest tomorrow?"

_"I don't take pleasure in sending monsters to fight for me." Why did that little memory infect my mind? _She thought, "Umm, actually no, I only have Buffamoos and Woolies, and Loi who doesn't listen to a damned thing I say, oh and Weiss, but he's just a pup."

"Another silver wolf?"

She shook her head, "No, actually a golden wolf I think… regardless, he would probably get his butt smitten if I put him."

Roy sighed, a depressed look on his, "Aww man, I would've loved to challenge you, but Woolies and Buffamoo don't attack people."

Her eyes brightened, "Wait, it's been 4 days since the last time I gathered supplies, I'll see you later!"

Running out of the school, she charged towards the barn, and took out her supplies, 4 Buffamoo's crowded around her. "Alright, just wait a moment."

_"After this, we should do some training, I have a feeling you need to train just a little more before you can take on Malessia Valley." _

"Right, I'll get on that."

…

_"More, put more swing into it you bloody weakling!... I don't feel any power coming from your swings….. C'mon grandmothers could hit that log better than you."_

Twitching, Aria glared at her. "Alright, if you're so good, you try then."

_"This is for you, not me."_  
"Chicken…"

_"50 push ups!"_

"What?"

_"Alright little missy; 50 push ups with me on your back."_

Grumbling, she bent over and started her push ups.

_"100 for complaining."_

Closing her eyes, she restrained herself from throwing the sword at Katrina…

"98…..99….100…"

_"Are you gonna keep your mouth shut now?"_

"….Yes ma'am."

_"Good, now today, we're actually going to excel slightly, I want you to use my power now."_

She looked at Katrina questionably. _"Now that we are fully connected, you can now try using my powers, you didn't think I would've made those swords for nothing do you?"_

"How am I going to channel your power to me?"

_"Simple, focus, discipline, and a lot of meditation."_

"And how am I supposed to do this?"

Sighing, she shook her head, _"You'll learn, we're going to have to practice a lot… and trust me, this won't be easy for me either."_

"Why?"

_"I… have never had a host before… lighter has, but not me… so it'll be kind of difficult."_

"And how long will it take to use the ability?"

_"If your lucky, to the end of autumn, but that's if your exceptionally gifted, otherwise, it will take quite a few weeks at best, month maybe."_

"Then I'll do it in 5 days!"

Resting her head onto her hand, she waved, _"Have fun with that."_

…

The Monster Contest wasn't extremely eventful, a black slime won and Roy smiled triumphantly to himself.

4 other days passed quickly, little disturbance occurred and she woke up early and went to bed late to train.

On the 5th day, she dropped the sword in frustration, "I've got something, I've go~"

***BOOM!***

The sword flew out of her hand while she flew back from the powerful explosion.

"I thought you could say I would be able to manage the ability?"

_"I said the exceptionally gifted, and I thought you were talking about the entire ability, not just a feeling, cause you should've been able to do that the first day…."_

Landing on her knees, she curled her back so that her hands were on the ground, "I'm doomed…."

_"Didn't I tell you, it takes meditation, discipline and focus, you can't have one without the other two, or two without the other one. In your case, you are well disciplined and meditate a lot, but your focus and patience is completely awful."_

"You never mentioned patience!"

_"I thought that would be obvious…" _

Closing her eyes, she growled, "Alright that's it, fight me!"

Looking up from the rock she rested on, Katrina raised an eyebrow, _"Where did that come from?" _

"Fight me, if you win, I'll allow you to order me about, but if not, I'll order you about!"

Sighing through her nose, she shook her head, _"What do you think this will help with…. I see…. Alright then, you're on!"_

Turning into Aria's counterpart, she took out the dual blades, _"but don't expect me to go easy on you."_

"I don't plan you too."

Steadying themselves, they charged towards one another, hacking and slashing as much as they could, _"Watch closely Aria, my abilities are yours."_

Lifting up the swords, she stabbed Aria into four specific spots. "AH!" She screamed, falling to the floor.

_"It's called crippling; crippling destroys people's defense, aka their arms, and if they're wearing armor, the armor gets broken, it's a destructive form of fighting, but it's very useful." _

"So why did you use it on me?"

_"Who else, if I did it on someone else it would destroy them for good, you're just feeling phantom pain." _

"So I can learn this?"

_"Yes, now since I won; that means you become my new student, congratulations!" _

"…. Thunder thumper."

* * *

TBC


	21. Hi

Short chapter

Enjoy

* * *

"Get out!" Orland growled, this time throwing his book at Aira, "You stupid human."

She grinned, "You know you enjoy it!"

He gave her a death glare, "I don't look into the female side!"

"You can if you want to."

Face palming, he shook his head. Sitting in the water, she seethed in pain from the heat soaking into her fresh wounds. "Ow…ow…ow…"

"Hey Aira!"

Closing her eyes, she replied, "Yeah?"

"If Orland passes out, can you get him out of the springs, I've got to go somewhere for a couple of minutes." Cammy said, placing a hand on the doorway.

"Sure."

"I do not pass out!"

"So quick to denial, okay I guess that's the case then, see you." She chuckled before running out of the door.

An awkward silence carried throughout the bathhouse. "… Hey… Orland."

No response,

"I'm not going to make a stupid human remark."

"What?"

"Can you tell me why you're always protecting me, you never tell me, and I'm finding it hard to sleep because that same question comes into my head."

Awaiting a response, she curled her body so that her mouth was just above the water level.

"I will tell you, both my father and I have known all along that you have been going into the caves, because of that he asked me to watch over you… you humans might consider it affectionate, but I'm only doing it because dad told me to…"

"Really? Why your father of all people?"

"Kyle and dad were good friends. He once told me Kyle was the only person he considered worthy of the title of a warrior, which for an elf, is something to be honored."

"So you're doing it because your dad tells you too."

"Think of how many times you would be dead if I wasn't there."

"True… Thanks by the way, it makes me feel good to at least know that you care about something." She said sincerely.

"Hm." He scoffed, "I told you, I only do it because my dad said so."

"Yeah I know." She smiled. Bathing herself, she heard the sound of footsteps stop.

Looking up, she noticed Orland, "Hi."

He twitched, "Hi, I come over here, and all you say is hi?"

"My brother and I used to take baths together all the time when we were younger, plus, since you aren't human, there's nothing to be embarrassed about."

He sighed, "Predictable…"

Silence.

"So you were expecting me to say this?"

Shaking his head, he turned around, "Don't stay in the baths too long… you idiot." Slamming the front door behind him, he stormed off.

Blinking, Aria pondered, "Well that was rather strange…" Gathering her things, she headed out of the baths, and ran to the caves, continuing her training.

_"Promise me Jake, no matter what you will protect my daughter from that of which haunts her."

* * *

_

TBC


	22. Suspicious

Enjoy

* * *

"Okay class, since winter is coming up soon, we've decided to work out a little sports activity."

Most of the children's faces lit up, Orland scoffed and hid his face in his text book. 

_"Sports class? Is that enjoyable at all?"_

Aria nodded, "Very." 

_"Oh good, I want to see." _

Heading outside, two of the students set up the volleyball net. "

"I don't see why we have to, it's just precious time wasted where studying could be replaced."

Patting his shoulder, she smiled, "Oh c'mon, even you must be able to enjoy yourself?"

"Reading on different subject and learning new things is fun; this… it's a waste of time."

"While I agree on that, even Jake must've said that getting fresh air is good for the soul."

He sighed, "My parents and I are different from one another."

"Well that's not nice to say…"

"It's true…"

Sighing, Aria then grinned, "Fine I guess I have no choice."

Grabbing his arm, she lifted him out of his seat. "W-what are you doing, human?"

"Taking you against your will!"

"Let go!" He struggled; a small pink hue appeared on his face, although it disappeared when a nauseous lurching feeling came to his stomach.

"I don't feel well."

"I'm not taking no for an answer."

"But Aria I feel…" Covering his mouth, he gagged.

Instantly letting go of him, she turned around, "Orland?" The instant she let go, the nausea subsided.

_"Hmm…" _

"What?"

Katrina sighed, _"I think our little friend here has some form of problem with me, he seems to become nauseous every time I'm around." _

Looking at her, Orland rose an eyebrow, "I didn't say anything."

"Oh sorry then I thought you did."

Standing up, he touched his forehead, muttering, "Why is it that every time you're around I begin to feel like I did around that black cloud?"

Shrugging, she pondered, 'Why indeed…"

Grabbing her arms, he neared his face to hers, looking her straight in the eyes, "And you've been acting incredibly strange since you've woken up, what is going on Aria?"

"Strange, what do you mean by that, I'm always strange?"

He sighed, "Then let me redefine, talking to yourself, heading into the forests and coming out covered in blood, and taking a sudden interest into dual blades. What is going on?"

Her terse reply was, "Nothing."

"I don't believe for a second that nothing is going on, now tell me Aria." 

_"Crap!" _Katrina cursed, "_He's picking up on my trail… that damned elf is smarter then I thought he was quick find a way to distract him."_

Closing her eyes, Aria tried to figure out a way to distract him, "I'm waiting."

Looking at him, she smiled, "Alright then, I'll tell you." Leaning in slowly, she kissed him on the tip of the nose, "It's a secret you'll just have to discover for yourself." She chuckled before escaping his grasp, and running out to join the others at a game of volleyball.

Orland however felt some unknown feeling surge through his body, as he swore he felt his legs turn to jelly and buckle under him.

Hitting the ball with her fist, she heard Katrina sigh, _"You know that touching him was a somewhat bad idea…"_

"What do you mean by that?"

_"I mean that… never mind…" _she started when Aria was hit in the head_, "I won't distract you." _

"No I wanna know…"

_"… Orland's body is resisting my aura, he cannot stand it because I have a suspicion that he suspects me to be a gigantic threat to you, his father as well."_

"I'm sorry," She hit the ball, and whispered, "I don't quite understand what you mean?" She clenched her teeth when saying to act as if the ball hurt, 

_"To explain fully, I can actually hide in any shadow, but since I'm bound to you specifically, I must remain in a certain radius of your home, luckily, I was given a mile. Anyway, Jake has been on edge, especially because I know he probably sensed me, and Orland… well, let's just say we might want to be more careful, especially because once you kissed him on the nose, he probably felt my aura around." _

She nodded, waving her hand after passing the ball again.

"Hey Aria," Cammy, who was standing next to her started, "Are you alright? You're speaking to yourself?"

Scratching the back of her head, Aria smiled, "Oh yes, sorry, I was busy calculating the ball as it flies into the air, you know to hit it correctly, and you know all of that stuff."

"Cammy incoming!" Hitting the ball over the net, she replied, "You know, you're starting to sound scarily like Orland, you know that?"

"I could guess, anyway I'd hate to be rash, but I must continue onto my dream and head into the caves once more!" She gave a quick smiled before running into Messhina Valley.

"Are you kidding me? He can sense this?"

_"I don't exactly see why this would come as, a surprise to you, after all, he is either fused or wearing something that allows him to detect me." _

"Beautiful…"

* * *

TBC


	23. White Dragon

Enjoy

* * *

Sitting down on a rock, Katrina was increasingly fascinated with a pistachio. _"You know humans are some of the strangest creatures I've seen, opening things with their hands…"_

Cutting some of the grass growing on fertile land, Aria wiped some beads of sweat from her forehead. "Really? Why?"

_"For example, you have a pistachio; why not eat the shell and the nut, instead of just the nut? Why must you snap open the shell?"_ she muttered, demonstrating her puzzling question as she snapped open a pistachio and ate it.

"Well, humans cannot digest the shell, or we could, but we cannot really… how should I say this… chew the shell down?"

_"So then swallow it whole…"_

"I don't know how powerful stomach acid in a dragons stomach is, but ours depends on mush, or barely formed food left." She then looked at Katrina's stomach, "How strong is stomach acid for a dragon anyway?"

_"Waste not, want not."_

"even bones_?" _

_"Unlike most others, we digest everything from a skeleton of a 'leafphant', to the smallest crumb of bread."_

Dropping her dual blades, she stared in awe, "Do I get this as well_?" _

_"In due time, however, you should get back to training, now that you can finally draw darkness with a sword…"_ She grabbed Aria's sword and threw it to the side, before rearing up onto her hind legs_, "You must now protect yourself without it!" _

"You have to be kidding me right?"

Katrina roared, slashing her sharp claws at Aria mercilessly as she watched her poor host scream, dodge, and almost wet herself when she didn't let up. This entire pissing match went on until dusk began unfolding it's lovely colors to give a sign that it was almost dinner time. With one last heavy blow onto Aria's now newly formed shield, Katrina chuckled when the shield broke.

_"If that was my full strength, you would've been demolished."_

"Oh c'mon give me a break! You almost killed me more times than I can count today." _"Clearly you can't count very high."_

"… I stopped counting after I nearly burst my vocal cords from screaming." She panted, placing her hand onto her chest, before releasing the strain her neck was giving her and was hit the back of her head with a small stone.

Lifting her head to look at the sky, Katrina caught a scent…. An all too familiar scent. Looking to her left, she caught a shadow flicker, before snarling.

"Katrina?" Her growls became vibrant, as her back arched in a threatening manner. Sitting up, Aria looked around, and only caught of guard when a piece of chain looped around Katrina's neck. With a horrid screech, she collapsed to the ground, clawing at the metal frantically.

"What's going on_?" _

_"Get this off of me, now, hurry!"_ She screamed, causing Aria to drop to her knees and cover her ears. Running over to her, Aria grabbed the oxidized copper chain around Katrina's neck and unlatched it. In the chains place, was what looked like a bruised skin, and melting scales. Snarling, Katrina was blasted into a tree by an invisible force, at least invisible until it reached the shadows.

Hearing a large snort, Aria hesitantly turned to see a huge white dragon stand proudly behind her. _"Kaim, you son of a~"_ She growled, lashing out a wave of shadows, to which he effortlessly shielded_. _

_"Your companion I see has weakened you, or is it the fact that she barely knows how to even protect herself from you?"_ He spoke in a surprisingly velvety, serious, and very reasonable tone. Kaims scales had a certain bright bluish tint that shone in the sun, and unlike Katrina's sharp horns that grew backwards like a goats or as if to be used for riding, Kaim did not have horns, instead he had a certain form of fluffy look and spikes that grew from his back; were not incredibly sharp looking, unlike Katrina's which were curved, and incredibly sharp to touch, there was a notable scar on his face as well, just above one of his eyes.

Storming up to him, Katrina roared, protectively curving an arm around Aria. _"You will not take my host." _

_"And you think it's fair to take my own." _

_"You never gave him a chance."_

A rumble in his throat that resembled that of a chuckle came from deep in his throat_, "Funny how we live in hypocrisy, isn't it, Katrina." _

_"I did it to protect her." _

_"You think I would've harmed her? I only would've if you came into the equation." _

Striking at him, she growled, _"Liar!"_

_ "Then why do you think I'm here?"_

_ "You said the same thing to Kyle and now look where he is!"_

Aria's eyes widened in shock, her father? Kyle her father? "What about Kyle?"

Katrina looked away_, "I will tell you later, right now I have some business to attend to."_ She growled before lurching at Kaims neck, biting him here and there. Backing away, clearly signaling he had no intention for a fight, Kaim took every bite, as if he wasn't even trying to dodge, or even prevent any damage from happening.

_"Since you seem overly pissed today, as with every day, I'll leave you to willow in your little pity fest again."_ Giving Aria a toothy grin, he chuckled, _"Till we meet again, Young De-Saint- Coquille, hopefully it will be when this little hag isn't around."_ He muttered, before disappearing into thin air. 

_"Come back and fight you coward!"_ Lowering her head, she shook herself, _"Bastard… walks in here as if he's king of the world…"_

Sweat dropping, Aria picked up her dual blades and seethed them back into their scabbards. "You know, not to make you more angry but… he never attacked at all, and I was expecting him to be more… I dunno, evil laughing type that killed small children for fun."

Shaking her head, she transformed into her shadow Aria form, _"Do you know why he's so dangerous?"_

Shaking her head, Aria waited for Katrina to answer. 

_"Because…"_

* * *

TBC


	24. Katrina's Side to the Story

Enjoy

* * *

_"Because…"_ She repeated herself, _"He comes across as a calm respecting dragon, he turns out to be a lying, selfish, untrustworthy bag of scales."_

"He never fought back?"

_"Why are you protecting him? He threw oxidized copper at me."_

Cocking her head to the side, Aria rose an eyebrow, "What exactly does oxidized copper do?"

_"Melts a dragons scales, that or rust, both create a form of chemical reaction that then turns the scales into a liquid, and then forms another chemical reaction with the skin in which burns the skin and makes a painful and very itchy rash… also over time, copper, iron, steel or anything that can rust if left on a vital such as the neck, over the chest can burn so badly it kills us."_

As her eyes widened, she twitched, "And this also effects me?"

Katrina nodded,_ "It will… eventually, right now I should focus on giving you strength enough to fight against the threats that live in this land."_

Looking up, Aria's eyes widened, "You mean to say that there are more of them?"

Sighing, she shook her head, _"Yes, Aria, there are many threats out there, however your main worry is keeping secrets from that elf, he's another threat, or could become one over time."_

Backing away, Aria muttered, "What do you mean?"

_"… that's not important right now."_

Sighing, she then recalled the events from before, and then Kyle came to mind. "Fine, I won't pry about Orland just yet, but what about my father, what has he to do with this?" Lowering her head, Katrina growled…

_"Aria… you will not enjoy what I have to tell you… sit, this story will take some time to explain."_

...

_Walking towards me was a tall man, I had been injured in a fight some time ago. He walked up to me, concern shown like a beam in his eyes, I didn't trust him at first, but he proved himself. _

_"Are you okay?" He asked, as I simply snarled at him, covering my wound. "I won't hurt you I promise." He spoke softly, similar to that of a fairy, lowering his body in a sign of submission. _

_Walking over to me, he placed a hand gently onto my wound. Snarling at him, I barred my teeth in the sign of dislike for him, but he simply smiled and healed me, as if I was some old friend. Handing me some food, he left to do something else the rest of that day. I remained beside that rock for days, before I was finally willing to accept that he may have been a good man. _

_That was also when Kaim found me. "Katrina." He started, "Are you alright?" Back then I would've never suspected him to be the traitor. I nodded, showing that my scales were healing from the touch of rusty iron. "Stupid orc." I muttered, grateful for his supporting structure, as my body was still weak from the poison, "They really need to learn to avoid rusting their iron."_

_ Chuckling, he brought his head under her chest to help her up. "You simply need to not underestimate a simple orc. While they may be small and edible, they do have a cunning mind." Kaim was in fact, very protective over me, even to the point of attacking Kyle when he came once again. _

_"Sorry I'm late; I had to get some ingredients." Placing the food down, he looked up to see Kaim's head under mine, growling menacingly. "Oh, a friend?" Roaring, he rose up a paw. _

_"Kaim!" I yelled, biting onto his paw, "Don't hurt him, he's a friend." Lowering his paw, Kaim remained still, unafraid to snap at Kyle's hand whenever he tried to reach out to his face. _

_After some years, we both grew warm to him, but at the same time, I think we could both sense he was worried about something, he would always look to the direction of Pandova Mountains. _

_"That's when Kaim betrayed him." _

_Walking over to the place I generally met him, I could not find him, and it was as if the land was severed in a way. Looking around, I found him not in Messhina Valley but Trieste forest, bound in white trees, unmoving, as if dead… When I called to him, he never stirred, never awoke, I had known then from the power and the pierced branch in his heart that Kaim had betrayed him. _

_"Katrina, there you are!" Stopping behind me, Kaim muttered, "Katrina?" _

_"You son of a…" Turning around, I growled at him, "You, how could you do this?" _

...

"_I yelled senseless and probably incoherent words at him, scratching his face, even after all of this, he made it sound like it was not his fault, saying that he was only following him, but he killed your father Aria, he slaughtered him without redemption. That's why he cannot be trusted, I had known him for years, and he would've never asked to be killed." _

Speechless, Aria sat down on rock, "And here I thought Kaim was reasonable."

_"He only makes you feel assured that he's trust worthy, I knew him when we were dragonlings, he did always have spite for humans, but to actually kill one… despicable."_

"Didn't you?" She said accusingly, remembering the blood and broken boned corpse that was once her annoying little brother.

Seeing the image from into her mind from Aria's, she sighed,_ "Your brother would've become a mindless puppet."_ She muttered, standing up. _"I would never do that to you, anyway let's go… It's best not to stick around here for too long."_

Heading back home, Aria snuck past Rosalind, and collapsed onto her bed, 'So dad cannot be found…' She thought, 'He's dead…'

* * *

TBC


	25. Woolies Phobia, the Answer to it All

Autumn had quickly turned to winter, and Aria was shivering as she conjured a tiny shadow like ball.

"Hey, Katrina, look!"

_"Oh, a small ball, by the end of this year you might be able to make it a centimeter bigger."_ Dropping the ball out of Katrina's lack of interest, the ball exploded when it hit the ground. _"Oh that was pure energy, not just a puff of big hot gas, I guess you're improving."_

"What day is it today?"

_"Ah, Winter 6th."_

"A whaty what now?"

_"What's so important about this day? Hey, you're face is all pale."_

"H-hi-hide!" Raising an eyebrow, Katrina heard a small whisper. "Orland's coming this way, hide."

Diving into her shadow, Katrina growled,_ "Stupid boy turns up too much for his own good."_

'I know.' She thought, 'It does get slightly annoying doesn't it?'

_"Yes… wait, you're finally speaking through thought."_

Her eyes brightened, "I am?" she thought? Out loud however, she smiled and laughed, "Yus!"

"Why is it that every time I find you out here, you're talking to yourself."

Shrugging, she smiled, "Must be something in the water." However her little snide comments when she caught something white and fluffy in her peripheral vision. Looking down at a wooly, she yipped before running behind Orland and wrapping her arms around his waist, glaring at the poor little wooly from the protection of his arm, "Get ride of it! Now! Now! Now!"

Unlatching himself from her grasp, he knelt down to pet the wooly as he rose an eyebrow, "Aria… Woolies are the least threatening creatures in this place."

"They're evil monsters with the intention to scratch whatever poor soul touches them, now send it back to the forest of beginnings!"

"What do you have against living furballs?"

"Their fur, it's so scratchy, so irritably evil, and vile! When they nuzzle their heads against your leg, gnngh… the feeling's so awful!" She hid her face into Orland's back, "How can you stand to touch it…"

Shaking his head, he patted the top of it's head, "Don't come near this one, she's not friendly, and would likely be eaten for dinner... go back home okay?" The wooly made a rather adorable noise as it nodded and went back into the portal.

She heard a gentleness to his voice, she had never heard before. "I didn't know you could communicate to monsters."

"They've been the only things to really understand me… humans here think that they are creatures to be captured and used to fight with, but that makes them almost heartbroken to leave their homes."

"Some of them like being domestic."

"Only because you capture the domesticated ones, but even you can see that like us they have intelligence."

"Hmm… interesting to know you enjoy speaking to monsters."

A blush crept onto his face, as he stuttered, "Don't you dare tell anyone okay? Especially r-"Roy, I know; don't worry." She smiled, patting his head, when he gave her the "you must think it's really stupid" look.

"I think it's actually very cool, and adorable."

Pouting, He looked away, "Don't make fun of me..." Feeling as if she misinterpreted what he said, he sweat dropped, "Not that you would, but I'm just used to most kids laughing at many things that I enjoy." he looked away again, "Although... to be honest you're actually the only person that knows some of my secrets."

Smiling, she straightened out a crooked part of his cloak, "Well I fell honored." Taking a breath, she continued, "So what did you need?"

Looking away, his ears became red, "The star festival tomorrow… could you… um…"

"Hm?" She blinked in confusion, much to his dismay.

Looking down, he wrote into the ground, turning his back to her. Looking down, she found written in the ground, "_Go with me? Roy's giving me a hard time; saying that I would take Leann…"_

Wrapping an arm around his shoulder, she laughed, "Sure! Although Leann probably put you up to this, didn't she?" He slowly nodded, she knew however inside, that little immature girl inside of him erupted with happiness, especially because Douglas whom was the biggest, strongest, most terrifying person she knew, still had that little girl.

_"Okay Aria."_ Katrina growled, _"We need to get back to training!"_

Sighing, she unlatched her grip on Orland and smiled to him, "There was something I needed to get to Tanya, see you tomorrow, kay, good!" Giving him no time to respond, she was already running off into the distance.

Shaking his head, he sighed.

"Humans…"

* * *

TBC


	26. Starry Night

Winter 7th didn't wait long enough, classes had finished, and aria was drawing a picture of Kaim. Katrina was absent for the moment, thinking it was best to prey on small animals then to listen to teachers monologue themselves. To her all of the chattering between her classmates was dulled out as she thought about what happened. The book also came up several times in her mind, the ancient tomb written in a different language. Many times she tried to read it, but it simply came out as gibberish.

"Hey Aira, what'cha drawing?" Cammy asked, looking over her shoulder;

"Kaim…"

"Kaim, whose Kaim?"

"A dragon…" She said nonchalantly, mostly occupied on her drawing.

"Aria, yo, Aria! Earth to Aria!"

Shaking her head, she looked at Cammy. "Hm? Oh Cammy, hi."

"What's wrong with you? You space out in class, sleep a lot during the day, you even ate a cheese sandwich when you have an intolerance to milk."

"Oh, I was craving cheese that day, no matter how sick it would make me the next day."

Cammy sighed, "You've just been acting strange, the others have noticed as well, just don't keep yourself in the dark okay?"

Nodding, she smiled, "Don't worry, I'm just thinking about my father and where he could've gone off to…" 'who was he to you Katrina…?' she thought to herself.

It was odd to think that a friend would betray so quickly, but at the same time it did make sense if he was simply pretending, there were too many pieces missing of this puzzle piece for her to fully decide what is truth and what is not.

_"Is this guy you're sibling?" _

_"Oh heavens no, I'd rather die first…"_

"So was he ever like a friend? Or was he always the enemy…?" She muttered to herself.

"You're doing it again you know?"

"Oh I was developing the character of Kaim… should he always be a friend to the main character of a story, or was he always her enemy to start with? Betraying her and her friend out of envy, or dislike?"

"Are you asking me?" Cammy asked, pointing to herself. With a nod, aria awaited her response, "Niether, if I were him I might have betrayed this friend out of envy, because maybe feelings weren't as they seemed to be…?"

"You make no sense at all…"

"I know, it's ultimately up to you to decide his character."

Looking at the clock, she gasped, "Oh no, it's almost six!" Closing her book, and packing everything away, she smiled at Cammy, "Sorry Cammy, but I've gotta meet up with someone soon for the festival."

"Oh, who is this someone?"

"I might tell you tomorrow, but that's only a might." Running out the door, she wrapped her mind around where she was to find Orland.

"Where did he say…" she muttered to herself. _"Go to Pandova Mountains, 6:30."_ But where in Pandova Mountains…? that's what got her head in a twist. Running into Pandova Mountains, she ran through every room, dodging some of the monsters she knew were too strong to fight against, and continued searching. Panting, she tried to catch her breath, "Where did he get off to…" Looking at her clock, it struck 7:00, "Crap, he's gonna give me a lecture on being late… very late."

"There you are!" he muttered, his feet digging into the crunchy snow. "I said meet me at the entrance."

"Sorry, I lost track of the time an-"I know."

"What?"

"You are generally late to many things, that's why I said six, shooting stars start at 9, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time."

Twitching, she growled, "You little trickster, you made me panic about getting another lecture!"

Orland smiled ever so slightly.

"How did you find me anyway?"

"Apples, grapes and blood, Elves are very good at tracking people." Trying to endure the nausea, he continued, "Follow me."

Hiking up the mountain, Orland turned a corner before finally sitting down, "Here we are." Sitting down beside him, she looked at the stars, one of them lit up and passe.

"Hey look a shooting star!"

"Mm.." He responded quietly, barely interested in the shooting star.

"Oh c'mon Orland, if you're going to look at the stars, at least enjoy yourself."

"… I enjoy watching them quietly…"

"Generally Orland, when you invite someone, you talk. besides did you know that shooting stars can grant wishes?"

"Aria… They're meteors, little particles of dust and sand that burn up."

Frowning at him, she narrowed her eyes "I enjoy seeing them as magic, especially since we're still kids!"

"We're not kid's aria…"

"Orland I'm older then you, I think I know if we're kids or not, and being part of a kid is having fun."

Looking away, he muttered, "Fun is a waste of time, just like talking."

"And yet you speak with me?"

Shaking his head, he spoke softly, "You're an exception to that rule…"

Sighing, Aria caught another shooting star fly by, "You know, if you joined in with some of the activities more, it would be fun? I mean with the volleyball I left early since you didn't go."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you bring a certain form of enjoyment to competing…"

Looking at her, he began closing his eyes, "Alright… I'll go… only if you're there…" Backing her head away, she twitched as he started leaning in, "Umm Orland?"

Feeling him touch her cheek sent warning signs all the way down her spine.

"What're you doing?"

"Shh…" He murmured, gently kissing her. Tensing up, her mind went wild as she thought of a way to get away from his grasp.

_"He may detect me through you if he is physically touched."_ The words echoed in her mind as she slightly groaned in despair.

Mistaking a groan of despair for enjoyment, Orland then wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss.

Feeling a rumble, her eyes widened as she broke away, and threw herself and Orland off part of the mountain. Rolling down the side of the mountain, they hit another part of the path. Looking around, she spotted a sheltered area, and pulled him under with her.

"What're you doing?"

"Can't you feel and hear that rumble?" It grew louder as the ground began to shake violently. Wrapping his cloak around her now snow covered body, Orland held her close as ice and rocks carried down the mountain, creating a deafening sound. Snow covered every inch of what was not inside of Orland's cloak, and he didn't unwrap until the rumbling stopped. They were inside of a pocket of snow, to which Aria growled, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Blinking, he stared speechless, to witch she responded to by tackling him and they rolled even farther down the mountain, and when they stopped; the snow around them cushioned their fall as they hit the very bottom of the mountain.

"This did not go how I was expecting it!" He spoke in exasperation, "Why did you push us even farther down the mountain anyway."

She responded with little giggles that turned into full blown laughter, "Oh that was amazing!"

"That was terrifying!"

"You have to admit, that was pretty awesome to survive." Smiling, she continued, "Stargazing and some adventure, that's what I call fun!" Hugging him, she was unconscious about how cold she had gotten, and shivered, "Thank you Orland."

Looking away, he blushed once again, "Don't thank me… we should get you out of here before you catch cold.

" " Hey! I've got long-sleeved shirt on."

"Mhm… C'mon…" Brushing the snow off of her and himself, he was about to grab for her arm when he felt the nausea come back. In a split second, Katrina's dragon face formed in his mind. His face drained all color as he looked around.

"Orland?"

'Where?' He thought, 'where is this vibe coming from…' Looking at her, his eyes widened before grabbing her shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop struggling, I need to see something."

"Let go!" Holding her against the pile of snow, he unzipped her shirt down to her chest to see a black marking on the left part of her chest.

"No…" Touching the marking, he felt a tattoo or scar-like feeling. "When did she bond with you?"

"Who? What're you talking about?"

"Katrina, the dragon of darkness?" Shaking his head, He looked at her, "That's why you've been acting strange… talking to yourself and stepping up the training…"

Her eyes widened, "How did you know about Katrina?"

"I was told by my father to never allow her to fuse with you, and what's bad is that she's almost fully fused with you."

"She's never been dangerous."

"Aria… it's not her that is the danger, but what hunts her."

"What hunts her?"

Shaking his head, he bit his lip before closing his eyes. "Never mind, forget what I said…"

Grasping onto both of his arms, Aria looked for any answers to why he was hesitant; but alas, she found none, "You know something don't you?"

"I said it wasn't important!"

"Yes it is, now, what are you hiding?" Taking off his cloak, he wrapped it around her shivering body. "All I know is that there was another dragon, a seventh called Zador."

"How?"

He looked to the left, "I read it in a book, however it was old and faded so I couldn't exactly get a good understanding."

"I see… I'll ask Katrina on it, maybe she knows something about this Zador."

Orland shrugged, "Probably, he's the one that's hunting her." Sighing, he continued, "Anyway, we should get you home, you're nose is starting to run." He muttered, hesitantly drawing up her zipper as if he was to get skin caught in it. Walking her back to her house, he touched his nose and upper lip to her cheek, inhaling as he did so, "Goodnight." He muttered, leaving to head back home.

* * *

TBC

Touching nose and upper lip to someone's forehead or cheek is called Kunik or Eskimo kiss.


	27. Aftermath

This will be a short chapter

* * *

Enjoy

* * *

"So, how did yesterday go?" Snapping out of her daydream, Aria blinked at Leann, "Huh?"

"With Orland?"

"Oh, well you know, looking at stars, the most exciting part was the avalanche."

Leann's eyes widened, "An avalanche, were you two alright?"

Nodding, she smiled, "Apparently Orland has a magical cloak."

Giggling, Leann smiled, "That's good to hear, he's always had a certain kind of tenderness to his eyes when he looks at you, it's good that he could finally feel like he can protect you, after all, he generally looks to the doors when he does not find you here."

"Wait, Orland worries about me?"

"Yes? He's tried to protect you from afar since your father disappeared…"

She blinked, then once more before sighing, "He didn't need to, I'm not some little girl that needs protection."

Patting her head, Leann smiled, "You probably don't, but I'm convinced Orland thinks otherwise."

Feeling her shadow stir, she thought, _'katrina, where have you been?'_

_"Out and about, what about you? I hope Kaim hasn't put his slimy paws on you?"_

She shook her head, _"There is something that I want to talk about to you though."_ She thought, before saying aloud, "Hey Leann, I'll speak to you a little later okay?"

She nodded, "See you later Aria."

…

_"You want to know about whom?"_

Aria sighed, "Zador."

Her eyes widened before resting her head casually onto her paws. _"Zador… the name doesn't ring a bell."_

"Orland said tha-_"The elf…"_ She growled,_ "I knew it… I knew it."_

"You knew what?"

Standing up, she paced,_ "So he knows I now reside in your body…"_

"Why is everyone avoiding to tell me anything… honestly, he said that his father wanted to protect me from something that hunted you, called Zador…"

Frowning, she shook her head, _"I don't recall such a name…"_

_"Or maybe you just don't wish to remember."_ Kaim emerged from the light, small little runes floating from him.

_"You!"_

He sighed, encircling Aria,

_"Back away from her."_

_"So defensive, I only wish to speak to your host."_

_"You'll try to kill her."_

He snorted, _"Please, I only wish to talk to her."_

She growled, snapping at him again, however this time, he avoided the hostile action.

_"If you wish, you may kill me afterward, but allow me to tell her the actual truth."_

_"But I will be around to hear what lies you spout from your mouth."_

_"I wish to speak to her… alone."_

Aria smiled at Katrina, "I want to hear what he has to say, if you tell me anything about Zador."

He simply nodded grimly, curving the tip of his fluffy tail from side to side, similarly to a cat. 

_"Come with me to Pandova Mountains then."_

* * *

TBC


	28. The Truth

Walking into Pandova Mountains, Kaim rested his body against a wall, _"Sit, this place can get quite cold."_

"Why Pandova?"

He gave out a purring noise similar to a cat, when he went into thought_ "I like the snow, and this is mostly a desolate location, so no villagers will spot my presence."  
_

Hesitantly sitting down, he chuckled, _"Don't worry, I won't eat you… I've found in recent years that humans are too gamy for my taste."_ moving his head in front of her waist, he pushed her against the side of his stomach before resting his head onto the fluffy tip of his tail.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

_"A few things, how Katrina and I died, Zador since he's very important to our history, and the truth about what happened to your father."_

"The truth? But Katrina said that you killed him."

Closing his eyes, he blew air from his nose, _"She is partially true… so which would you prefer to hear first?"_

"Zador, I want to know who he is, Orland said he was part of the seven dragons."

Sighing, he shook his head,_ "Zador is not one of the six dragons, he was just a simple noble in our society."_

"What's the difference?"

_"Royals or the six dragons are supposed to watch over this world, generally coming out of the forest of beginnings to do so, royal is also a title of earned strength, rather than birth, noble is a step down from royal, a noble is 2-4 times weaker then a royal, and noble is 3-5 times stronger than a commoner, and since commoner is the lowest level, most dragons have to work their way up from that. Zador unlike most was born into nobility."_

"So what does he have to do with this?"

_"Please, allow me to explain… to start off, Zador controls a persons blood, or inevitably like Katrina or I being the dragons of darkness and light; he is the dragon of blood. He also could not believe that a high-ranking female would only take one male as her mate."_

She gave him a questioning look, to which he replied, _"Dragons generally practice a polyandry type relationship, or in other words, one female to many males…"_

_"Why?"_

_"Generally the ratio of females to males is 1 of 10, so 9 of the 10 eggs would be male, and since females are so rare, most males value them highly, so the males are monogamous, and the females are polyandrous."_

"So how does this connect to Zador?"

_"As I've said before Zador could not believe a female would take only one mate under her wing. Katrina if you have not noticed, is in fact monogamous, she chose one mate and stuck with him. Problem is, love or infatuation can affect any creature in horrible ways, and Zador became obsessed for the one thing he couldn't have."_

Aria rubbed her temples, "Wait, Zador killed her because he was obsessed? Who was her mate anyway?"

To respond to that question, he looked away, _"I was... I am Katrina's mate and he tried to challenge me when I was injured from hunting. Katrina tried to protect me that day, and Zandor said, 'If I cannot have you, no one can' so to do so, he used all of his energy to kill Katrina and I…"_

"So Zador killed you both, then how is he still hunting Katrina then?"

_"Clearly you missed the 'he used all of his energy' part, he killed himself by killing the both of us…"_

Resting her head against his body, she sighed. "So why did Katrina never speak about it? I mean something like this is really serious."

_"She tried to forget, however her hatred towards me came only when Kyle died, or when she thought I murdered him, but that's irrelevant."_

Looking at him, she stared, "You didn't."

_"Of course not, Kyle was the only human that made me realize that not all are bad… and because of a promise I made to him..."_

…

_"Like Katrina had told you, I was hostile at Kyle at first, however that hostile-ness became friendliness. As I said before, he taught me that not all humans were corrupted in the sense that they would attack anything on sight. Eventually, he actually allowed me to become his host, since he wanted my power temporarily."_

_One day we were sitting not to far from Katrina, whom seemed weary that Zador was near by. _

_"Kaim." Kyle started, "Why does Katrina look over her shoulder at every turn as if something's out to get her." _

_I explained about Zador and how he was a respectable man until love corrupted his thoughts. We had known him for many years, well more rather, 7 years to be exact. He actually brought you and Aaron to us to show us children, we had been curious what little humans were called, and so he told us much about you' especially that twins wake up at different times in the night. What really disturbed us was when your brother began to act weird… _

_3 years after we saw you both, your brother began to show signs of abnormal activity, talking to himself, in his sleep, tossing and turning on a regular basis. We only found that Zador had inhabited your brothers body years later, intending on killing whatever host Katrina and/or I inhabited. Kyle was scared for Aaron's life, and so with the help of ancient magic's, he begged me to help him stop Zador from killing Katrina's future host, which was you. He made me swear to protect you, Aria, that's why he was contented when he died."_

…

He sighed in exasperation, "The only way to do that however, was to limit Zador's power, and as you probably understand there is always a cost to powerful magic's…" Pausing for a moment, he muttered, "Your father told me to seal his soul into Zador's body, and pierce his body to prevent Zador from claiming it…"

"So is that why Aaron died?"

He sullenly nodded, _"Yes, your brother had to die because we later found out that Zador had taken his body long before, and so the sealing was not strong enough to break the bond. After I had convinced Katrina that I had taken Aarons body, however, she was more compliant to kill because I think, she actually thinks that I did the things Zador did, she seemed to forget him when we died..."_

Hugging her knees, she muttered, "Oh…" and then her eyes widened, "Wait, so dad is not dead?"

He shook his head, _"He remains in a form of stasis, however do not get any ideas little one, your father cannot be saved."_

She looked down, her hope faltered, _"Why?"_

_"He is denying Zador's power to do anything, to which is using up whatever amounts of life-force that he probably has left. Even if you could save him, he would not return to his body, and unless you kill Zador, I cannot allow his body to be buried."_

"Is there really no way?"

He shook his head,_ "And don't get any ideas on working around the situation, there is no way to bring him back."_

She was about to say something, but he placed his head next to hers, _"He knew these consequences long before he cast the sealing spell, I wish I could've stopped him, but when he made up his mind, he stuck to it, no matter what… I'm sorry…"_

Aria shook her head, the information was much different from what Katrina had told her, so it was difficult to accept and understand such a large amount of information. _"So why did Katrina choose only you?"_

_"Fluffy dragons are rare, and only males can be fluffy. It's apparently said that a female prefers a fluffy dragons grooming, rather than a scaly one. Maybe the softness makes them less irritable… I will never know. But I've noticed that females will only become monogamous for fluffy dragons." _He chuckled_, "Kind of similar to elves, once they find the right smell, they'll stick on like glue. Orland is like that."_

"Orland?"

_"Ah yes, I had yet to explain, the only reason why Orland managed to repel Katrina and sense her was because I became his host, otherwise, you would've been bonded to Katrina long before. He had chosen you about 5 years ago if I remember correctly."_

With widened eyes, Aria spoke out rather loudly, "Wait Leann said that he had been concerned about me."

_"Very much so, he wanted the power to protect you from Katrina and Zador when he heard about Kyle and the father elf talking even though he had already been sealed… and through admiration to protect something that I lacked to, I agreed to help him."_

Sitting there in shock, she remained quiet for what seemed like hours. "I see… So what do we do now?"

Covering her with a wing when she unconsciously shivered, he pondered, _"Well, the seal will not last forever, it will actually break soon."_

"It will? How soon?" She said her heartbeat quickening out of fear

_"It was only meant to hold for 12-13 years, Kyle suggested you would be bound to Katrina in that time… And unfortunately, the only way to kill him or even find him is when the seal begins to break."_

"Which means?" She gave him a blank look.

_"When you're 16, that gives you two years to train…"_

"Wait, you mean I have to fight Zador? Like actually kill him?"

_"Yes, I cannot kill him, I can severely injure, but not kill… since we're both spirits."_

Looking at the sky, he sighed, turning his head towards her, he muttered, _"Get onto my back, Katrina's probably thinking of a thousand ways to kill me, and will probably use them all if I don't get you back."_

Mounting onto his neck, she slid down, with a small shriek."Ow..."

_"Sorry, fluffy bodies have little grip."_

Rubbing her bum, she winced slightly, "Do you think Katrina will get over her hatred?"

_"Don't bet on it… she's pretty stubborn."_

* * *

TBC


	29. Pumpkin Juice

Sorry for getting this chapter up late, writers block struck when I had to start school. Regardless, here's the next chapter

* * *

Heading back to where Katrina was located, Kaim lowered his head. "_See, back, and no harm done to your host."_ She snorted disapprovingly. "_Was everything you said true?"_

Lowering his head, Aria slid right up against the back of his head. _"Sorry."_ Feeling the weight evaporate from his neck, he lifted his head,_ "You were listening…"_

_"Was it all true?"_ She snapped, growling at him.

"_Yes, every word, but I should not be your concern Katrina, Zador will be coming back."_

_"Why did you avoid telling me about how we died, you told me that it was that we both died in a fight."_

_"You tried to forget about Zador, and it was during that confrontation just before Kyle sealed himself, he threw you into the wall, and that gave you amnesia, you even forgot I was your mate…."_

_ "I didn't forget that, just about Zador…"_

Aria looked at Katrina, "But you never mentioned it?"

_ "Generally dragonlings bond, I told you I knew Kaim since we were dragonlings."_

She gave an understanding look before looking back at her blades, "So what do you suggest I do from here on out?"

Kaim looked back at the entrance of the cave, _"It would be a good idea to train actually…"_

"Train?"

_"Right now it's the silence before the storm, three years from now, Zador will awake from his slumber."_

"Is there any way to wake him up sooner?"

Shaking his head, Kaim snorted, _"That would be asking for a miracle that we don't have. If I were you I wouldn't hope for a quick recovery from him, he is not weak."_

"But you said he was never one of the six dragons?" Aria said, recalling everything Kaim had told her.

_ "That's because Terrible thought it would be a bad idea, he's picky about whom he brings into royalty."_

Sitting down, she took it all in. "So…" She swallowed thickly, "What kind of training?"

Sighing through his nose, Kaim looked at her unwaveringly. _"Probably an immense training that would change you forever. Currently you would be nothing but a small fly to him, although I think before you even consider this as an option."_

Giving him a look, Katrina growled. "_Alright, not an option, a order, you should at least finish school."_

"But maybe I should, I mean just in case you know…"

_ "No."_ he said sternly,_ "You will remain in school until the end of the year, and then break off from contact and head to a location I'll send you not long."_

"But you don't understand, the end of the year finishes not long before spring."

_"Then we have a small time to plan out the order of things._"

Looking down at her hands, which were strangely fascinating right now, she said in a slightly broken voice, "And my mom? What about her?" Katrina looked at Aria before leaning in and nuzzling her cheek against Aria's, _"Well send notice, for now, as Kaim said, just until the end."_

Standing up, she nodded.

_"One more thing, Orland will hear of this occurrence, if you have any need for advise then speak to him, for now we'll remain hidden until necessary."_ Kaim added.

"Wait you won't be around?" She asked.

_"We'll be around, just not as much, to keep suspicions down, you understand."_ Katrina said,_ "Regardless Kaim and I need some time to fill in the blanks of things."_

…

Heading out of the cave, she ran into Leann, whom was surprised to see her there. "Aria?"

Looking up, she smiled, "Oh Leann, I need a shoulder to lean on." Aria said, relieved to hug one of the few sane things in her life… which was saying a lot.

"What are you doing out here, wearing that." She said, examining Aria's rather skimpish wear in cold weather. Now that Leann had mentioned it, she instinctively began to shiver.

Being in Trieste Forest made her feel all warm but things were cooling off. "Ah I was fighting…"

"No wonder, come, let's get back to Grandpa's mansion, I'm sure you would like some pumpkin juice."

Nodding, she rubbed her arms. Heading to the manor, Leann grabbed some pumpkin juice and heated it slightly with a small fire so that it was warm rather than cold.

"I never knew you knew magic?" Aria said, taking the cup gratefully.

"I know some minor spells, dad's been teaching them to me, and after all, I am still 11."

"Oh yes with those dresses, I keep on forgetting you're so young…"

Chuckling in her girlish way, she smiled. "You know you've changed a lot this year, it's almost winter and when you first started this year, you remember calling Orland pointy."

Aria laughed, recalling the time ago she had said that. "Hmm… I might make it broody… Pointy just doesn't have the ring it used to.

" Taking a sip of her pumpkin, she smiled sweetly, "Although I don't think he's broody, he just doesn't seem to like humans that much. Though I've heard rumors recently that you two might be? Is it true?"

Twitching, she backed away slightly, "Okay Leann, back to normal Alvarna life please."

"I'm just curious…" She said in innocence.

"No we aren't, not all relationships are romantic, and some are platonic, like Roy and me."

"That's because Roy likes Cammy, and it makes sense, he's older than you by 4 years." Leann said, "Also I've known you since you were little Aria, I know when you hide something."

"Well… maybe a little, but he can't have the same emotions for me." She said stubbornly, unconsciously pounding the memory of the starry night into the back of her mind.

* * *

TBC


	30. Party

Sorry for the wait!

Enjoy!

* * *

Walking towards her house after talking with Leann, she didn't even realize that someone was walking towards her until they grabbed her shoulders.

"Aria! Hey Aria!" Looking down, she shook her head, "Oh Lionel, how are you today?" She smiled.

Lionel looked a bit nervous. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Fine." He smiled, "Although I'm a little nervous, I was wondering if you could give Orland something for me…"

Blinking she quirked an eyebrow, "Well." he stammered, "It's just, I wanted to thank him earlier today for helping me in school a couple of days ago, and when I tried to speak to him, he seemed very unusual…"

"He is always a little strange."

"Ah… let me rephrase that, he's been acting distressed, and then hiding it the best he can." Elves mixed with distress, never a good sign.

Smiling, she nodded, "I'll take whatever you need to him, if he starts stressing around me, I'll make sure he gets his dose of sanity."

Sighing with relief, he smiled at her, "Thank you so much Aria, you have no idea what this means to me, just take this to him." He handed her a small white box and walked by her, "Oh and tell me what he thinks of it!"

He called behind him as he jogged off home. Kaim's words then instantly rang in her head, _"If you have any need for advise, ask Orland, he understands the situation your in…."_

Turning on her heel, she walked into the inn. Egan smiled, "Oh Aria, nice to see you today, how are you doing?" He asked.

"Good, you?"

"As good as I can possibly be." He smiled.

"Do you know where Orland is?"

"He's up in his room." Just then footsteps while light sounded like they were running. They thudded down the steps, until Orland came into view. He wasn't wearing his regular cloak, or shoes. Without speaking, he grabbed her arm and began pulling her up the stairs. "This way." Walking briskly into the room, he released his grip on her and sat down at his desk. "Are you really going to leave for 3 years?"

Sitting down on the bed opposite his, she nodded, "You've heard from Kaim then?"

He nodded, "I would've never guessed what actually happened… I always thought it was a small problem… until you merged with Katrina…"

Smiling, she walked over and patted him on the head, "Don't worry, I'll be alright, just got to make sure what to do with a blood controlling dragon."

Pinching the bridge of his nose with his finger and his thumb, he sighed, "Honestly… you really are intending on getting yourself killed aren't you?"

"Yup." She said, touching her pocket and remembering the gift Lionel gave her. "Oh, by the way, Lionel wanted me to give this to you." She handed him the small box he had handed her.

"Why are you giving me this then?" He stared at the box she handed him.

"He said you were acting distressed or something, he didn't really want to bother you." Opening the box, he took out a small pin.

"I see."

"Why did you need a pin?"

"Roy got Lionel interested in these, personally I'm not interested in them, but I will keep it."

"After all you're more interested in insect collections." She smiled. He looked at her unimpressed, and felt like she was messing around with him.

She however chuckled and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, I think it's cute." On some days he regularly reminded her of Jake, but currently he looked like Cecilia pouting in a rather "unlike Orland" fashion. "Anyway see you later, gotta make sure mom doesn't dump a buffalo on me after finding out that I've been gone for a while!"

…

The next week and a bit went on as normal; Aria actually felt a little melancholy for the fact that Kaim and Katrina remained distant for a while, it almost felt like the two were officially gone, and that her life went back to it's usual routine, she could also tell that Orland had seemed to remain around her more, probably because she knew he was the only one within the village to know that she was going to be leaving, and the closer spring came, the more she dreaded the thought of leaving. Petting Weiss' head in distraction, she didn't realize her mother came into the room before she cleared her throat.

"Aria?"

Blinking, she spotted Rosalind holding something. "Mom, is everything alright?"

"Oh come now sweety, don't tell me you've forgotten what day it is?" Looking at the gift in her hands, she smiled gratefully, "Oh yes, it's my birthday, I almost forgot." She said, hugging her mom before opening the present.

It was a pretty locket, with aquamarines and amethysts decorating the outside which was circular. "It's beautiful."

"I saw that when talking with Yue, I know how painful it must be to have Aaron and your... Your father gone on this day, but that doesn't mean you should try to forget it."

Sighing with a slight relief, Aria felt slightly guilty to think that the reason why she had forgotten was that she was going to disappear as well. When she thought of that, she felt like a heartless jerk to leave her mother after all she's been through. Then she reminded herself that if she didn't, then Rosalind could be killed like everyone else if she didn't… Hugging Rosalind, she couldn't help but allow the tears to stream down her face for she knew that Rosalind tried to remain strong and hide the tears, but she didn't plan on telling her about Kyle until she came back for she didn't want to hurt her more.

School was rather regular, lessons went on as usual, but there seemed to be a bit of a heavier air in the school as if a melancholy air flew into the room and took rest there. Aaron was gone, and everyone knew that the two were especially noisy on their birthday, but now the school was just quiet, besides Barrett teaching about how to make weapons, and scribbling stuff down on the board for them to follow.

"Now remember finals are next week, we will be testing you on your capabilities, some things to expect on the finals in my class are…. And … and I expect them to be done and improved, you will have 2 hours to complete this assignment."

Hearing the bell, the class immediately got up from their chairs and began clearing away. Placing her own stuff, she began to walk over to the door, to continue to await, when she her arms were grabbed and a blind fold was placed over her eyes.

"Hey!' she yelled.

"Come on Aria." Roy said,

"You can't miss this." Serena responded.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Just come, you'll enjoy it."

Aria shook her head before allowing them to lead her blindly into what they call fun, and what she calls a nightmare. She felt herself turning and going places she didn't even want to know, before she heard the doors open. Squinting when the blindfold was removed, her eyes quickly widened.

In front of her was a huge feast, and a lot of people were there. "We thought we may as well bring the fun back." Roy smiled.

"After all, just because of the things that have happened, doesn't mean we can't have fun on your birthday," Serena said.

"Although I guess you could say it's not as fun to have to do school work, but we get a free forger so you're forgiven."

"That and whatever else was necessary." Leann smiled innocently, "And I managed to find a rather suitable solution to gifts."

Orland and Lionel were wearing things in their hair. Biting her lip, she covered her mouth before bursting into laughter.

"Sh-shut up! If it weren't for the fact that Roy called her the beloved we wouldn't be in this mess." Orland stuttered, pointing at the 'monster responsible for this horror'.

"Would you like me to add a dress Orland?" He shut up immediately. "You guys are all so infuriatingly fantastic."

"You celebrate our birthdays by embarrassing us and making us feel special, so we decided to reciprocate, after all, you won't be around for much longer."

"Yeah that's… wait how did you know that?"

Cammy and Roy smiled mischievously, "Well, using a truth potion on Orland works wonders, we spotted that he was acting more down than usual, and so we decided to interrogate him."

"So we decided on this." Cammy said.

"You guys, you really need to learn not to dig your noses in everything; but thanks."

"And don't worry, this time Barrett won't know anything!" Roy chuckled,

"Well at least until it's too late to stop you, that's going to be our 3 year birthday gift, and we'll make him swear not to tell."Somewhere deep down, she felt sorry for how they planned on manipulating him... probably telling him that dory's toy is haunted or something like that.

"He didn't tell you anything else did he?" Aria looked at Orland, whom looked ashamed of himself, for more than one reason.

"Well no, he refused to after a while, didn't even tell us, we even tried using Truthus and it didn't work so we just allowed him to pass out from a slight intoxication." Cammy said.

"You two are evil…" She smiled, shaking her head, before digging into the feast.

* * *

TBC


End file.
